A Different Journey
by InspirationfromImagination
Summary: A story looking at a different route for Naruto. One with less glitz and glam and a lot more realistic to what would happen as a ninja.
1. Chapter 1

**A Different Journey**

**Start Arc One: The Academy: Making the Grade**

**Start Chapter One**

_I believed in the dream of becoming a Hokage. The dream of being the leader of the village, but after the war I couldn't bring myself to pursue the position. I looked back at all the things I had to do in order to earn my place in the ranks and couldn't live with what I'd done. I killed hundreds and wounded many more. I probably ended the dreams of many young shinobi, destroyed the fabric of many families, and caused countless amounts of harm to people I had nothing against. I had nothing, but the whims of the Hokage driving me to do the horrible things I did. Of course now that I have fully realized the dark details of being a ninja I'm on a different path. I'm a teacher on the art of death and destruction. Although I don't really have a particular student at this time I wonder when one will come along…_

Closing his journal and placing his pen in the binding the Jounin stows away his written work. He takes a long look down at the village from atop of the Fourth Hokage's stone visage and sighs, "When will you appear?" A commotion from down below the Hokage Mountain draws his attention, "What's going on down there?" Taking a look down he sees that Naruto kid with a pain brush in hand making marks all over the faces of the former Hokages. The young blonde has a look of concentration on his face as he finishes the last detail in his artwork. Nodding as he looks over the work he's done Naruto slowly lowers himself onto the platform before taking off down the mountain into the city. A group of angry Chuunin and Jounin come looking bewildered by the act of blatant vandalism. They yell obscenities and question that someone would do such a disrespectful thing and then they come to the conclusion that it must be Naruto Uzumaki again. Nodding to one another the group of ninja leaves the area on a hunt for the young blonde boy, "Hmm… Maybe Uzumaki is the answer to my question." The man continues to watch the ninja searching for the young boy and disappears in a cloud of smoke.

_Later That Day_

Naruto sits before the Hokage with a defiant look on his face, "You know the drill Naruto. You're going to clean up the mess you made and spend time with your instructor after the academy in detention." The man from before comes into the Hokage's office through the window, "Ah Iruka how have you been?" Smiling the unfamiliar man looks at Naruto, "This one is the artist who made a fine addition to the Hokage Mountain."

Iruka looks at the blonde, "I know, I saw him as he was adding his finishing touches, but I decided to let him be." Naruto looks confused, "Yes, I could have caught you there, but I wanted to see how long it would take them to catch you." The Jounin pauses, "I must say I'm impressed by your ability to get away. It takes a lot of skill to be able to ward off a group of Chuunin and Jounin for several hours." Sarutobi looks at the Jounin wondering where he's going with this, "It definitely caught my eye and I'm considering taking you under my wing." The aged Hokage sits back in his chair before lighting his tobacco pipe and taking a long drag, "Of course the Hokage would have to approve of me doing this. Especially considering the fact you're still in the academy for another two or so years." The blonde scoffs at the Jounin's offer mumbling something about not knowing what he's doing. Iruka feels slightly annoyed at the child's brat-like attitude, but squashes that in favor of trying to gain Naruto's favor. Remembering the blonde's wild claims about being Hokage, "Well I guess you don't really want to become Hokage then."

Sarutobi takes another drag before saying "Iruka was one of my best ninja when he was out in the field. I considered him to become Hokage at one point, but he just wanted to be a teacher because he felt it suited him better." Naruto makes a farting noise with his mouth, "Seriously Iruka completed hundreds of missions for us, never lost a teammate, and is extremely powerful even though he doesn't seem like it." Iruka laughs at the last comment realizing the Hokage is joking, "I think he would be a great teacher for you if you give him the chance. He was a lot like you growing up actually, you think you were the only one to paint Hokage Mountain?" Iruka turns red at that statement recalling his childhood antics, "I'd say his artwork was a lot better actually and most of the time the only way we could find him was in school the next day if he showed up of course." Sarutobi smiles, "Of course to his defense he didn't exactly have anyone to make sure he got to school growing up. However, that didn't stop him from becoming the great ninja he is today." The Hokage takes one last puff from his pipe; "So I'd be careful Naruto because you could lose one of the greatest teacher's in our villages interest if you keep acting this way."

The boy sighs, "Well how do I know I can trust him?" Naruto recalls the last time he let someone in besides the Hokage, "The last time I did that it didn't end to well." The memory of the old lady comes rushing back to him…

_"Naruto you're such a sweet boy." A middle-aged woman says to him while cutting into the young boy's skin and it almost instantly heals, "It's almost like you didn't kill my son all those years ago." She makes another deeper slash at the small child's skin, once again healing extremely quickly, "I guess you really can't die… Well this should be fun." Tears are at the azure eyes of the young blonde as he cries in pain gagged by a cloth as the woman draws out a kunai dripping with a green liquid. As she's about to plunge it into his skin several kunai sink deep into her skin and Naruto sees a dolphin-masked ANBU appear out of nowhere and unbind him. Embracing the heart-broken boy the brown-haired man sighs telling him it will be all right. Even though he knows it won't necessarily be…_

Iruka recalls that day, but decides to keep his mouth shut and lets the Hokage talk instead, "Well you don't have to worry about that, we'll have people watching you and him around the clock." The Jounin knows this is a necessary step to gain the boy's trust and agrees to the conditions, "Does that make you feel a bit better?" Naruto nods still a little numb from that terrible memory of his, but the boy quickly shakes it off, "Alright then effective immediately Naruto Uzumaki will be under the tutelage of Iruka Umino for the next several years." The Hokage smiles, "Good then Iruka you can take Naruto to carry out his punishment." Naruto scowls as Iruka gets an iron grip on his wrist and in a swirl of leaves they depart. Sarutobi looks up at the more colorful version of the Fourth Hokage, "Minato… I think Naruto will be just fine with Iruka." A warm breeze blows in an open window comforting the Hokage…

_Around Dusk that Day_

Naruto scrubs vigorously trying to remove the last of the paint off of the Fourth Hokage's face, "Hey you missed a spot." The Jounin jokes with blonde and the boy grunts, "Just kidding, good job cleaning up kid." Slowly getting down the young boy reaches the platform before waiting for further instruction, "What are you standing there for?" The boy shrugs and begins to walk off, "Hey!" Naruto stops and turns around, "I'm willing to teach you some good stuff, but you have to do some things for me." Walking back to Iruka the young boy waits, "First of all, the pranks have to stop. You don't need to draw any more attention to yourself. It just makes you look bad and plus it's wasting your time." Naruto nods understanding that part, "Next you need to go to school everyday, do your work, and show a good amount of effort to improve your grades and yourself before I teach you anything." The boy groans wondering if this is even worth it anymore, "Also… The jumpsuit has to go." That was the deal breaker for Naruto and he turns around before walking away. Iruka thinks quickly of something to say, "Okay be a quitter, see how far that gets you! I bet Sasuke Uchiha is a better student anyways."

The blonde stops on a dime hearing that, "You want to teach Sasuke instead of me?" Naruto says indignantly before scowling, "That loser doesn't know a thing! I'll show him and everyone I can be a Hokage!" Iruka smiles knowing he's won over the boy now, "But back to the jumpsuit thing… I can't exactly get anything else. I don't really have the money." Naruto looks sheepish, "And going to school sucks… It's so boring and I can't pay attention. Every time we do something I wind up getting distracted by something else." He looks frustrated at this point, "I've tried to learn, but it just gets so boring." The Jounin sympathizes with the young child and tries to think of a way to make it seem worth it.

"What's your favorite thing to eat?" Naruto replies with Ichiraku Ramen and Iruka smiles knowing that place all too well, "If you go to all your classes and do everything else I ask you to." The Jounin pauses, "I'll take you to Ichiraku every Friday night and it's an all you can eat." The blonde smiles at that and Iruka extends his hand for a handshake, "But if you don't there will be no ramen, and I won't teach you. In addition, you have to keep up your attendance and grades if I'm going to keep teaching you." The boy takes the brown-haired man's hand and shakes, "Don't think I won't check up on you, I work at the academy and I will check everyday if you're doing what you're supposed to be doing." Naruto smiles excitedly, "I'll bring you your new clothes tomorrow and if you do everything well this week I might even get you some new ninja supplies." The boy is shaking with excitement, "You know what? After you go to detention, meet me at Ichiraku we can talk more there." Naruto's azure eyes sparkle with happiness; "Alright I'll see you tomorrow." In a swirl of leaves the Jounin leaves the young boy and Naruto walks away feeling better than he has in a long time.

_The Next Day at the Academy_

Naruto sits in class trying to stay focused on the instructor's droning voice. He writes down the main points of his lecture on the Fourth Hokage, but feels himself zoning out. Looking around he sees Iruka outside the door through the little window giving him the "I'm watching you" hand motion. Snapping back into reality the blond begins to take notes again motivated by his teacher's presence and the thought of Ichiraku. The teacher concludes his lecture before asking if anyone has questions. Naruto raises his hand wondering about how the Fourth Hokage's Flying Thunder God Jutsu worked, "Well the jutsu you're asking about was only known to the Fourth Hokage and it involved him using a special type of kunai marked with seals. The kunai didn't let him do the teleporting though; they just acted as points for him to warp to. Nobody, but him really knows how it truly worked, but that's a very good question Naruto." Looking over his class the older instructor, "That question might be extra credit on the next test, so I'd make sure I remembered that if I were you guys." Everyone else finishes taking down their notes before the final bell of the day rings, "Alright everyone, class dismissed." The blonde stays seated, "Well this is a nice change of pace. I don't have to hunt you down for once. Are you okay Naruto?" The old ninja says chuckling dryly as the boy nods "I heard Iruka is taking you under his wing. Is this true?" Naruto nods, "Well that's great to hear Iruka's a real good guy, I taught him back in the day." Smiling nostalgically the older man sighs happily, "I'm sure the Hokage told you this, but you two are a lot alike."

The blonde nods, "What was he like?" The elderly instructor looks up before going into a story about some of Iruka's antics as a kid at the academy. Naruto listens closely about the brown-haired Jounin and sees where they share a lot in common. The blonde boy continues to listen and eventually at a pause he asks, "So do you know anything about Iruka as a ninja after he graduated?"

"Oh yes, he did well once he got out of here and got his act together." He passed his first Chuunin exam with flying colors, blew through the Jounin test, and after a while I think he joined the ANBU. I heard stories about him there and I'll tell you this." He pauses slightly to take a breath, "He's a legend there; he never lost a teammate, never failed a mission, and never left any trace he was ever there. The man was one of the most revered ANBU out there next to a couple others." Looking at the clock, "But that's not my place to tell you, he'll just have to let you in on his stories. You need to run along now." Naruto thanks his teacher before leaving for the day, "Iruka, if anyone can turn him around I know it's you." Sitting down and taking out some papers the instructor begins grade some homework.

_At Ichiraku Ramen_

Naruto devours his last bowl of ramen within his pile of empty bowls and Iruka finishes his first, "You know if you ate slower you might get more out of your food? If you just gobble everything down you get sick and your body can't absorb the nutrients properly." Belching the blonde looks over before smiling contently, "Ichiraku can I get the check please." Iruka feels slightly nervous as he looks at the total. He sighs and pays the astronomical bill, "Also we won't be able to do all you can eat every week with the volume you can consume. I only get paid, so much." Naruto crosses his arms muttering something about we shook on it, "Oh well, I saw you in class today doing well. Can I see your notes?" Naruto nods before handing the Jounin his notebook. Opening up to the current date Iruka is impressed by the boy's notes, "Good job, keep this up and you might learn something from me." Naruto huffs, "We shook on it remember?" The blonde drops his head in defeat, "Anyways, I have something for you." Handing the boy a bag that he opens to see a black jumpsuit and a green flak vest with some combat boots. Pulling out the last item, which is a black half mask, "Try it on when you get home, it should all fit fine."

Naruto feel speechless, and smiles before embracing Iruka, "Thank you so much, nobody has ever done this kind of thing for me." The blonde lets go, "Hey I need to go grocery shopping would you be willing to help me with that? The Hokage always says my diet sucks." Iruka feels nervous, but agrees to do so, "Alright then! Let's go!" Naruto takes the man's hand and they say goodbye before heading towards a nearby grocery store. Once they enter Iruka begins to lead the blonde around selecting healthy foods that boy groans at, "I don't know how to cook any of this stuff." Iruka sighs before noting to pick up a cooking for dummies book in the magazine isle. Once they get through their adventure in the grocery store they head to the cashier and pay for their items. Iruka grabs some of the bags and Naruto takes some of the others. They head towards the young boy apartment. Speaking about little thing here and there about cooking and general food prep they continue on their way. Once inside the complex ascend up a flight of stairs before going down a hallway. Grabbing his keys the blonde opens up his room revealing a small, but comfortable living space, Storing the food in its proper place they sit down on Naruto's couch for a bit, "Hey Iruka, what did you do while you were in the ANBU?"

The Jounin sighs coming up with a suitable answer, "A lot reconnaissance missions, some retrieval, and a few assassinations; really just stuff everyone does." By a few assassinations he means a hundred or so, but Naruto doesn't need to hear that. He takes a look at the clock and says, "It's getting late I'm going to head home now, so get some rest. Keep up the good work kid and stay out of trouble." In a puff of smoke Iruka leaves the blonde to his nightly rituals. Naruto sits there for a second before yawning and deciding to prepare for bed.

**End Chapter One**


	2. Chapter 2

**Start Chapter Two**

_At Iruka's Apartment_

_I finally found who I was looking for. In the last place I'd expect to find it, Naruto Uzumaki. He's a good kid; he just needs a lot of work. The kid has a lot of the same struggles I did, and nobody should have to go through that. Although, maybe I should have thought of that when I was killing all of those people. Never mind, it doesn't matter anymore. What counts is that I mentor this boy into a man. The journey will be long and filled with a lot of speed bumps, but I'm confident Naruto Uzumaki will be a splendid ninja. _Placing the pen down Iruka shuts off his light before heading towards his bedroom for the night.

_In the Academy Courtyard_

Naruto sits on the lone swing in the shade of an old tree. His face is long and tired with a slight bruise on his cheek, "Damn Sasuke, always having to be such a show-off in taijutsu." Rubbing the sore mark on his face the blond takes another bite of his sandwich and washes it down with water. He wipes the crumbs off his face and prepares to head back into the classroom for the rest of the day. Before he can leave he hears a familiar voice saying something about his bruise, "Iruka, where are you?" A tap on his shoulder makes him turn around to see the Jounin standing over him smiling, "How did you sneak up on me so well?"

Laughing at the naivety of the boy the brown-haired man says, "I was trained to do that." Iruka looks at the mark on Naruto's face, "You run into a pole or something today?" The blonde crosses his arms and scowls, "Just kidding, I saw the match between you and Sasuke." Naruto's expression softens a bit in embarrassment, "You need to not telegraph your attacks so much and maybe start sparring with someone a little easier, so you can get better instead of beaten." Iruka chuckles dryly, "It makes you look tough to have a shiner every once in a while, but not almost every day." The bell rings and Naruto says bye before running inside, "Remember what I said! And our deal!" Nodding the blonde boy hurries into his class. Iruka sighs and heads back in as well to his office. As he makes his way through the hallways he passes by Naruto's classroom and sees the blonde answering a question. The rest of class giggles and the boy gets flustered, before the teacher tells Naruto nice try and works through the problem on the board. A visible click occurs in the boy before Iruka's eyes and the Jounin can't help but smile, "Iruka you're doing well." Continuing on his way the brown-haired man gets to his office and opens it to go back to doing some paperwork.

_That Friday Night_

Naruto consumes his fifth bowl of ramen slowly and begins to feel full. Once he's down to the broth he drinks it from the bowl, "Wow you were right! It is hard to eat as much when I slow down." Iruka laughs a little relieved by the fact he won't have to drain his bank account this week, "So when do you start teaching me cool stuff?"

The Jounin sighs at the blonde's excitement, "Not until at least the end of this term." Naruto's face falls, "You need to prove you can keep up the good work, and I fully expect you to do the same during subsequent terms until you graduate." The blonde looks further downtrodden by that statement, "Don't worry I just want to make sure you can hold up your end of the bargain, and trust me when I start teaching you cool stuff you'll be happy you stuck this out." Naruto's azure eyes sparkle with hope, "Of course I can only teach you stuff as you're ready for it. The first few things I plan on teaching you won't seem cool, but they'll be super useful." Pausing the Jounin continues, "They'll lay the foundation, so when you do start learning more advanced things you'll get them quicker." Naruto sighs thinking about how boring the basic stuff will be, "I'll teach you how to survive first and trust me you'll be glad when you're out on missions and know these simple tricks." Finishing his ramen Iruka wipes his face, "After survival I'll teach you how to hide, gather information, and interrogate people. These are skills you will use everyday and it will be cool when you can pick up on things like when people are lying to you." Iruka asks for the bill and pays it, "Once you've mastered those skills, I'll start teaching you how to properly prepare for a fight, fight without fighting, and how to fight if you're put in that situation." They get up and leave the stand, "Then and only then can I start teaching you the flashy or cool parts of being a ninja."

Naruto thinks it over for a few seconds, "So basically I'm going to have to do a bunch of lame stuff, that will wind up making me an awesome ninja. Then I get to do all of the fun stuff?" Iruka nods and the boy sighs, "I guess I don't have any other options, so I'll have to deal with it." Extending his hand the two shake on the terms, "Will you at least help me if I need any on something at the academy?" Iruka smiles and nods, "Are you still going to give me tips like you did the other day? Cause that really helped me."

Iruka laughs, "Don't worry I won't forget about you, I just won't be doing a lot of one-on-one teaching. I'm an administrator in the academy, so I have to do a lot of paperwork. Once we start winter break we'll be spending a lot of time together as long as you've held up your end of the deal." Naruto nods vigorously, "Okay then head home and study hard. Maybe work on your weapon work with those new tools on your kitchen table." Iruka winks at the boy before departing a swirl of leaves. Naruto smiles before rushing home to his apartment complex. Once he gets in the gate he rushes upstairs to his apartment and opens to door almost dropping his keys. On the kitchen table is a package with a note attached to it that reads, "_Careful they're sharp… Practice hard buddy. –Iruka" _Opening the package Naruto smiles at the brand new set of tools and feels a tear welling up in his eye.

Replacing his old set with the new he stows the old ones as back-ups in a storage case, "Thank you Iruka, this means the world to me." The blonde looks up at the full moon outside of his window before heading to his room to do a little bit of studying before bed. Opening up his history book and turning on the desk lamp Naruto begins to read an excerpt on the Fourth Hokage and his success during the Third Great War, "I wonder if that jutsu could be replicated? That would be awesome to learn." Finishing up the chapter about his Genin team's adventures and taking down some notes the blonde turns in for the night.

_The Next Wednesday after Class_

Naruto tries to talk to Sakura, but she ignores him in favor of fawning over Sasuke. The boy feels jealous and angry as he heads towards the swings in defeat to that prick. Wondering what makes Sasuke, so special causes him to ignore Iruka's obvious presence, "You know you should really stop chasing after her." The Jounin's words cause Naruto to jump a little before sighing, "She doesn't want to be with you and besides if she's that into Sasuke she probably isn't worth the time." Muttering something about maybe the boy still looks depressed, "Trust me dude, when you're older you'll be glad you forgot about her. Besides a fact most girls your age aren't into boys like that, you're only ten." Naruto looks up hopefully at Iruka, "It way better when you start getting around sixteen or so." Iruka remembers the love of his life, but quickly stows that away as to not bring up the pain of losing her, "Anyways you're wasting your time, focus on getting better as a ninja and the girls will follow eventually." Patting the boy on the back the Jounin goes heads back towards his office and Naruto heads home. On his way in Iruka decides to go to her grave instead.

_At The KIA Ninja Memorial_

Iruka feels a pang in his chest remembering the fateful day the love of his life was taken away from him. The only teammate that he lost was the one he was meant to be with for the rest of his life. Rubbing the cold stone he sees the flashes of blood being spilled from her beautiful body. Iruka retracts his hand and holds back his tears before sensing a familiar presence; "It's been a while since I've seen you here." Kakashi Hatake's monotone hits his ears, "You thought of her didn't you?"

The brown-haired man nods to his fellow Jounin, "Even after all these years it still hurts." Iruka chokes back tears, "God I feel like such a pussy right now still crying over it, but I guess there are some wounds time doesn't heal." They look at each other knowing that all too well, "I heard you failed another team; I'm guessing you're waiting for Sasuke?"

Kakashi nods, "Yeah, I've been asked to take him under my wing once he graduates." Sighing the silver-haired man dryly chuckles, "I heard you've taken someone under your wing already." Smiling underneath his mask Kakashi continues, "Naruto Uzumaki of all people, but I can definitely see why you picked him. You two are pretty much the same."

Smiling Iruka can't help but nod, "Yeah, but there are a couple of big differences that we can't talk about. Not that they matter really, but luckily he has someone who sympathizes with him." They share a moment of silence; "It'll be ironic if those two wind up together Naruto and Sasuke. They're like oil and water." Kakashi nods in agreement before patting Iruka on the shoulder and leaving. Soon the brown-haired man does the same feeling a little bit better.

_Later that Day in the Academy Training Field_

Naruto stares at the target in front of him and swiftly throws three shuriken that all miss the target, "Damn it." Sighing he pulls out a few more before this time carefully aiming them and hits the target this time, "Well I guess that's progress." Taking another accurate shot he continues to throw them with a little more focus and power every time until his speed gradually increases. Eventually he reaches for some more and goes to collect them, "What the hell?" Bunches of shuriken are on the bull's eye and several are on the ground obviously having fallen from there, "Huh, I wonder how I didn't even notice hitting the mark every time?" Shrugging it off as nothing he collects his weapons and puts them back in his holster. This time he takes out the kunai and tries to focus a little more right off the bat before throwing them. Each time he gets subsequently closer to the bull's eye until he hits it every go, "Wow, I guess if I focus first it helps." The blonde laughs at his mistakes, "But I can't focus too much or it screws me up." Taking a look at some of the kunai that missed in the middle when he was thinking it over. Once he runs out of kunai the boy picks up his knives before heading over to the taijutsu dummy. Running through several of the katas of the basic academy style Naruto feels like he's doing something wrong.

"Fix your stance." A dull voice says from behind him and Naruto turns around to see a masked Jounin, "You're not in a natural stance for your body and that's what is causing you to not flow as well." The blonde feels confused, "Sorry I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Kakashi Hatake."

Naruto recognizes that name from his history book as one of the Fourth Hokage's students, "You were one of the Fourth Hokage's students right?" The Jounin is taken aback by the blonde's knowledge and nods, "Do you know how he did that Flying Thunder God Jutsu of his?" The Jounin shakes his head and mentions something about knowing as much as you do, "Oh well, I guess you have to keep some things a secret, but what was he like?"

Kakashi sighs remembering his old teacher's ways, "Very serious, but also a fun loving guy when it was appropriate. He would have been a great Hokage if he didn't die defeating the nine-tailed fox." Pausing for a second the Jounin smiles underneath of his half-mask, "You look a lot like him actually. Although, he was a bit more intimidating at first sight." Naruto scowls and Kakashi chuckles dryly, "You're a kid, don't worry about it. But he also had his reputation, so that helped a lot." The blonde crosses his arms and continues to hang on to every word, "But he also had another technique the Rasengan that he learned from his tutor Jiraiya of the Sannin. It was basically a ball of swirling chakra that could do a lot of damage, but it was incomplete." Naruto tilts his head in confusion at that, "It's tough to explain, but he hoped to add an element to it, so it could become even more devastating." Kakashi pauses for a second, "There was a lot more to him that I know about, but would rather not bring up because it's secret. And you never know who's listening right Iruka?" Naruto looks around for his teacher, but can't find him until a voice pierces the silence.

"As acute in the senses as always Kakashi." The brown-haired Jounin pops out of nowhere, "I see you've been talking to my student." Kakashi says something about helping him too, "I saw that, I was going to say something, but figured you could probably have more to offer. Considering you are labeled as a Jounin instructor for Genin, not merely Academy Students like me." They share a laugh at that, "Kakashi and I are very good friends from the ANBU."

Naruto looks at the two men, "Well if you two don't mind I'm going back to training." Facing the practice dummy he settles into a more natural stance before practicing his taijutsu. The two Jounin share a look before shrugging their shoulders and leaving in two separate swirls of leaves. Sweat begins to form on the blonde's brow and he pants slightly as his endurance starts to wear down. Pushing through the feeling of tiredness Naruto continues to train his hand-to-hand skills.

_At Naruto's Apartment that Night_

Naruto turns off the cold-water shower water before drying himself off with a towel hanging on the curtain. He steps out of the tub in a towel he's wrapped in and looks in the mirror hanging over his sink, "If I can keep this up I'll be able to get where I want to be." Shaking out his blonde spikes the boy heads to his room to turn in for the night. A crow-masked figure peers into the window of his room as he lies down in bed. Soon after they vanish into seemingly thin air…

**End Chapter Two**


	3. Chapter 3

**Start Chapter Three**

_I thought that I had gotten over her. Well maybe I was wrong, but at least I'm not the only one in that boat. Kakashi can't move on past the loss of his team either. It's sad that even after all these years we haven't found closure. Oh well, we just need to invest in our future. Naruto Uzumaki you will do great things, mark my words._

Naruto looks at the clock on the wall feeling slightly nervous as he answers one of the last questions on his final exam. With only several minutes left he starts working faster, but trying to keep his answers quality at the same time. Finishing the last question he hears the teacher say time is up. The blonde sighs in relief feeling the weight of the world come off his shoulders. His instructor comes up and collects his copy of the exam and Naruto sits back, "The scores of these exams will be posted tomorrow. I hope you all have a great break and make sure to come back ready for next term." Everyone cheers and leaves for the door, but Naruto sits back for a second. I did it he says quietly and leaves the room, "Hey Naruto." The blonde stops in the doorway, "Great job, I'm expecting you to keep up the good work." Smiling to himself Naruto runs out excitedly and finds Iruka standing in the courtyard waiting.

"Gather your things, we're going to start your training tomorrow. Meet me at training field seven at 5 in the morning sharp." The Jounin says before leaving in a swirl of leaves. Naruto heads home to prepare for the start of his new journey.

_That Night in Naruto's Apartment_

The young blonde is finishing his meal of steak and salad when a knock at the door pulls his attention away. Looking out of the kitchen window Naruto sees the Hokage standing outside of his door, "What's the Old Man doing here?" Shrugging it off the boy opens the door for the elderly leader, "Old Man Hokage, what brings you here tonight?"

Smiling the Sarutobi looks at boy, "I want to talk to you about your training with Iruka." Naruto lets him in, "I see you've learned to make thing besides ramen." Laughing it off the blonde offers the Hokage some, "No thank you, but I appreciate the offer." The two sit down in Naruto's living room, "First I'd like to say I'm very proud of you for working so hard." A little pride wells up in the boy, "But that doesn't mean I'm satisfied, I want to see you thrive and do your very best." Pausing and looking out the window to the Hokage Mountain, "I know you want to become Hokage one day, and with the turn around I've been seeing I think you might be able to." The boy sits silently, "You need to work very hard with Iruka and never give up, no matter how difficult or boring it gets."

"I promise I won't let you down." Naruto says in a serious voice, "I'm going to surpass every Hokage one day. I don't care how hard the road may be, nothing will stop me."

_The Next Day at Training Field Seven_

Naruto waits patiently for his instructor to arrive. A puff of smoke appears before him and Iruka pops out, "Well let's get right to it." The Jounin pulls out a backpack with basic survival items including a sleeping bag, two heavy-duty rain ponchos, several meal bars, a canteen, and a few other items, "You see all of this?" He pulls out a scroll with seals on it, "It can all fit in one of these." Making a hand seal he taps the scroll and the things disappear into it, "Amazing right?" Naruto nods dumbly, "Now you try getting it out." Making the same hand seal the blonde applies a small amount of chakra and nothing happens, "That's because this only responds to my chakra. See the marking with my finger print on it?" Naruto notices it and says oh, "Now make one with this blank sealing scroll that will be your backpack for this training session." Putting chakra into the scroll the blonde sees a marking of his fingerprint appear on it, "We can start with your survival training." Naruto seals up the items provided by Iruka, "We're going to go camping for the next two weeks."

Naruto suppresses a groan, "Will there at least be some kind of combat?"

Iruka shakes his head before continuing, "No, but I'll show you some cool tricks, so you never need more than one change of clothes. Never need to bring fresh water with you or hang up your clothes to dry." Pausing momentarily, "I'll also show you how to keep warm even on cold nights if you don't pack proper clothing." Naruto feels like this will be really boring, but remembers this will all be part of his training, so he follows Iruka as he starts to hike into the woods.

_Later that Day_

After hiking several miles the two stop by a river, "Do you ever drink directly from a water source?" Naruto shakes his head, "Good, first you need to sanitize the water." Pulling out a large pot the Jounin fills it with water and then begins gather some wood, "Well you could help me." Naruto scrambles over there before grabbing some fallen sticks and branches, "Alright now that we've done that I'm going to show you a basic fire jutsu that anyone can learn. It's called Fire-Style: Spark and it's just what it sounds like you're making sparks." Nodding Naruto goes over the hand seals with Iruka for a couple of minutes, "Now this is the tricky part, you need to imagine pulling fire out of your chest and force it out of your mouth into little sparks. Let's do it over the water first, so we don't start a forest fire."

Naruto nods and heads over to the river making the hand seals and summoning his chakra the blonde takes a deep breath in and blows out. Absolutely nothing comes out and he feels a little frustrated, "Take your time and imagine sparks coming out of your mouth." Trying again the boy blows out and coughs feeling his throat burning; "Well the good news is you summoned some fire, now you just need to bring it out, so you don't burn yourself." Iruka pulls out a novel and sits down waiting for the blonde. Naruto sighs before trying again this time a little smoke comes out of his mouth. Saying something about progress the boy continues on with his practice. Eventually a sparks flies out of his mouth and Naruto cheers, "Almost there, just a little more practice and I'm sure you'll do it." Iruka says reassuringly. Naruto focuses completely on his chakra before making the hand seals and pulls in his breath before releasing a hail of sparks much larger than Iruka made. The Jounin looks up at the moment the blonde releases and is amazed, "What the?"

Naruto cheers in absolute joy, "Did you see that? That was awesome!" Iruka feels lost wondering how the blonde pulled off such a large spray and asks to see it once again. Repeating the process Naruto draws in a little more chakra causing tiny fireballs to come out, "Uh, is that supposed to happen?" Iruka shakes his head dumbly, "Is something wrong Iruka?"

The brown-haired Jounin says, "No, not at all, we just need to work on your chakra control before I show you any more jutsu like that." Iruka's lost for words unpacking all of his stuff seeing the sun going down, "It's getting late let's camp here for the night." Naruto nods and unpacks his sleeping bag, "Naruto I want you to not use that jutsu, until we've practiced it enough. If you wind up adding too much chakra you're going to hurt yourself." Really Iruka is concerned for others, "Promise?" Naruto nods quietly, "Now I'm going to take first watch for the first four hours. You get some shut eye for now." The blonde crawls into his sleeping bag to catch what little rest he can before his watch.

_The Next Morning_

Iruka and Naruto are hiking along one of the trails and hear a crackling noise. The Jounin holds up a fist pretending it's an enemy. Looking around the blonde grabs a kunai just in case. Several deer pop out of the bushes and run away, "Good job reacting there, even though you knew it wasn't a enemy you were prepared." They continue on their journey and eventually Iruka stops, "What's off right now?" Naruto looks around and sees a puddle that seemingly appeared before pointing it out, "Good you noticed the illusion I set up, many water-using ninja may use that as a trap. Be especially wary of puddles if it hasn't rained for weeks or there isn't an obvious water source nearby."

Naruto takes notes of that, "Okay, what else should I look out for like that?" Iruka goes onto explain about suspect piles of rocks, "So if rocks are too perfect, I should be wary?"

The Jounin elaborates, "Yes, but don't be paranoid every time you see a decent looking pile of rocks. It'll just feel off if it's actually an enemy ninja." Naruto nods before the two continue on their way until they hit a small stream, "Okay I'm going to teach you how to wash and dry your clothes." Iruka pulls out his spare change of clothes, "Now this might be a little harder to do than the fire jutsu." Going over the basics of the water jutsu and demonstrating it the Jounin perches on tree branch and continues his novel. Naruto makes the hand seals and slowly a large ball of water rises out of the stream and he keeps his concentration. He flings it over to some hanging clothes that become drenched as a result, "How was that?" Iruka looks up surprised at the blonde's success on the first try before asking to see it again. Naruto does the same thing and Iruka shrugs it off attributing it to an elemental-affinity. Demonstrating the air technique Naruto does the same thing to his clothes, but winds up tearing them to shreds, "Um Iruka, I think I need some more clothes." The Jounin looks up and see nothing hanging on the line and a bunch of shredded cloth on the ground.

"Naruto once again, don't use these techniques until we practice chakra control." The two stand silently, "Anyways let's make camp for the night." The two set up camp and get ready to get some rest before the next day…

**End Chapter Three**


	4. Chapter 4

**Start Chapter Four**

_I didn't know when I took this job how much chakra Naruto actually had. I teach him basic survival techniques and he winds up turning them into killer techniques. I guess I better not teach him how to sharpen his senses. He might wind up blowing out an eardrum or going blind. Oh well, better get back to it today's the last day of survival training. I tried showing him the charging technique and how to build a shelter out of earth. Those he didn't get off as well, but he can use them like a normal ninja thankfully. I guess he has a triple affinity, which is extremely rare, but I'm sure Sarutobi will be happy to hear that. Time to get back to it…_

_At the Gate of Training Ground Seven_

Naruto and Iruka stand across from each other dirty and tired, "Well now that you've completed your survival training we can move onto basic ninja stuff. However, that starts tomorrow, go home get some food and a shower. We've got a long week ahead of us." Naruto sighs in relief before heading home beaten and tired. Iruka does the same, but decides to head to the Hokage's office afterwards.

_In the Hokage's Office_

"A triple affinity you say?" Iruka nods, "Well I can't blame you for how that turned out. Normally people can't produce that much force with those jutsu, but I guess Naruto is a special case." The two share a brief silence, "I like the progress I've seen and can't argue with the results. Keep up the good work Iruka and I'll see you at the end of next week." In a swirl of leaves Iruka exits and the Hokage takes a drag from his pipe, "Well then Minato, I guess your boy is doing just fine." Smiling at the stone visage of the Fourth Hokage Sarutobi goes back to his daily duties.

_At Ichiraku Ramen_

Naruto stares at the bowl of ramen before him and considers devouring it like he used to. However, Iruka's words slow him down and plus he doesn't have the Jounin picking up the tab. After slurping up a group of noodles he takes a break, "Where's Iruka?" Old man Ichiraku asks and the blonde shrugs his shoulders, "I guess you can't do the old all you can eat like you used to can you then?" The two share a laugh and Naruto goes back to eating his noodle soup. After three bowls the blonde cuts himself off and pays the bill, "Good luck Naruto!" The old man says as the boy exits the stand into the quiet streets of the village. Looking up at the full moon Naruto wonders what his training will be like tomorrow. Once he reaches his apartment complex the blonde heads up the stairs to his room.

Opening the door he looks the place over, "Home sweet home." Placing his sealing scroll and other equipment down the blonde heads to his room to turn in for the night.

_At Iruka's Apartment_

A purple-haired woman sits across from Iruka and sighs, "Why should I waste my time on this brat? He's only an academy student and I doubt he can handle this level of material."

Iruka sighs at Anko's stubbornness, "Trust me I've seen what he can handle, you remember when I had to pull him out of that situation a while back." Anko looks sad as she recalls the incident, "Think of it as passing on your craft, and plus you can legally scare the crap out of some kid."

Laughing at that Anko replies, "Alright I'll do it, but if the kid starts to cry I'm going to kick your ass." Iruka sits quietly at that statement knowing she isn't joking, "I guess I'll see you and the brat tomorrow." In a puff of smoke the woman leaves a slightly nervous Iruka. Getting up the brown-haired Jounin decides to head to bed for the night.

_At Training Ground Seven_

Naruto looks at Iruka and the unfamiliar woman, "Naruto this is Anko, she's part of the interrogation unit in ANBU. I want you to give her the same respect you would give me." Pausing the Jounin concludes with, "And then some."

Anko eyeballs Naruto, "Alright kid first things first, if you want to get information out of someone you need to give them a reason to talk." In a flash Naruto is bound by snakes, "My go to is using highly venomous snakes." The blonde is frozen in fear, but relaxes realizing the snakes aren't doing anything yet, "Well, that's weird I expected him to piss his pants or something." Anko pauses, "You've got a little bit of respect from me there, but don't let that go to your head. The snakes disappear in a puff of smoke and Naruto lets out a sigh of relief, "Now since I can't give you the contract to snakes for obvious reasons, I'm going to teach you other methods to get people to tell you everything." Pulling out a kunai the woman says, "Pretty much anyone with a knife cutting a little into their throat is willing to talk. However, for those more difficult cases you might need to use torture." Anko sighs, "Or seduction, but since you don't have a pair of breasts, so that won't work too well."

Naruto laughs nervously, "Well I kind of have an answer for that, Iruka look away for me." The brown-haired Jounin knows what's coming and decides to avert his eyes in his interest. Making a hand seal the blonde transforms into his sexy female counterpart he created, "Oh Iruka… Why won't you look at me?" The Jounin sighs turning around to see the female vixen and is thrown back in a giant nosebleed. Naruto reverts to his true form and Anko nods her head.

"Well that could work actually." The purple-haired woman, "Usually when someone transforms they cast their normal shadow, but you displayed one that looked exactly like her." Anko taps her chin thoughtfully; "I'm not going to explain the birds and the bees to you, so I'll just forget you even showed me that." Pausing for a couple of seconds the purple-haired woman continues, "Now some of the ways you can get people talk can be either very violent or subtle. I'm going to teach you some of the more subtle ways."

Sitting there silently Naruto listens as Anko explains several methods that can make people talk. Once they've gone through several of them Iruka thanks Anko and the purple-haired lady takes her leave, "Well that went better than I expected." The Jounin sighs in relief, "Now you're going to learn how to hide. Originally I was going to teach you how to suppress your chakra, but due to your lackluster chakra control I'm going to have to show you everything else." Iruka pauses to take a few breaths, "I'm plan on teaching you how to slow down your breathing and keep it silent. In addition, you will learn to stay still for hours without making a noise." Naruto holds back a groan knowing how tedious this will be, "Concentrate on your breathing and try to slow it down." The blonde does as he is told and the two practice breathing for a while.

_Later that Day_

Naruto is on a tree branch hidden in the leaves crouched low listening to Iruka having a conversation with himself. The blonde picks up on several of the important points, "Come out now Naruto." Doing as he is told the young boy raises up and goes to his instructor's side, "Now what was I talking about." Naruto goes into depth on what the Jounin was talking about, "Very good, I didn't see or hear you at all, so you passed on that." Pausing momentarily the Jounin thinks for a second, "Since you got this, so quickly we can move onto the next phase of your training tomorrow." Iruka looks at the setting sun, "Now go home and get ready, we're starting very early tomorrow." Naruto nods in understanding and the two leave the training ground.

_At Naruto's Apartment_

The young blonde sits in his living room wondering what he'll learn tomorrow about strategy, "Probably I'll just learn about setting traps and stuff." Naruto recalls his training when he learned some of the basic elemental jutsu and gets an idea, "I wonder if I could practice those?" Gathering his stuff and pulling on his flak vest the blonde heads for the door and stops, "Iruka said not to use those jutsu though." Putting his stuff back down Naruto sighs and eventually says, "Screw it, Iruka won't mind as long as I'm being careful." Picking his things back up the boy heads out to the training ground.

_At the Academy Training Ground_

Naruto stands by the shallow end of a river that runs behind the academy. He makes hand seals before inhaling and when he releases a hail of small fireballs that steam as they hit the water. Adding a little more chakra this time the blonde activates the jutsu and the fireballs grow in size and spread, "I wonder how much chakra I can add to them before the jutsu won't work?" Shrugging his shoulders the young boy moves onto the water jutsu, "Alright control the ball." Taking a deep breath and making hand seals the boy creates a large water ball and propels it with his chakra into a nearby tree. On impact the water makes a small dent in the wood, "What the hell?" Trying it again this time he knocks the small tree over and a loud crash it heard, "I should probably get out of here before someone catches me." Turning around he faces his instructor who's eyebrow is twitching in anger, "Oh hey Iruka, I was just practicing."

"I noticed." Naruto gulps at his instructor's angry tone, "Didn't I tell you not to practice those without my supervision?" The blonde goes to argue, but instead just accepts responsibility and agrees, "Good, now next time I catch you practicing these without me present you won't have a teacher." Sighing the Jounin continues, "Now I am impressed by the damage you caused with those techniques." Naruto perks up at that statement, "I think you could definitely use those in a combat situation effectively with the right planning." The blonde listens intently to the brown-haired man, "I want you to go home and think on that. Remember next time I catch you we're done." Naruto nods and leaves his teacher feeling distressed, "Naruto just when I though you were doing so well." Shaking his head the Jounin leaves the area wondering what he's going to do with the boy.

_Three Weeks Later at Training Ground Seven_

Naruto looks at the battle map before him stroking his chin in thought "I would first set traps around our camp just for general protection purposes." Marking four corners with X's indicating a trap before pausing momentarily, "Then I would have each of us hide in four corners of the camp area waiting to ambush the enemy ninja. Each of us would create an illusionary clone of ourselves." Drawing four clouds for illusionary clones and four separate stick figures to represent his team Naruto adds, "One would be on watch in a tree, the other three would be sitting looking over a map of some sort pretending to discuss a battle plan."

Iruka asks, "What happens when they find that the images of you are just illusions?"

The blonde continues, "At the moment they find out we spring into action activating a ninja wire trap laced with explosive tags at each site. Chances are it will only take out two or three of them." Thinking deeply, "However, since we're all hidden we can find the last one or two and interrogate them. A two-on-one or four-on-one ratio is still a good ratio as long as we're not facing someone with a power level above your average Jounin."

The brown-haired man nods at the plan, "I think that could work, granted you can't predict all the variables. However, for the most part this plan would work." Pausing Iruka thinks for a bit, "I guess you're ready to move onto the next part of your training, which is the fun part."

Naruto nearly leaps out of his spot in joy, "Wow! What am I going to learn first?"

Iruka smiles at the boy's enthusiasm, "Now, now calm down; you'll find that out tomorrow." The two part ways for the night heading towards the final part of Naruto's training…

**End Chapter 4**


	5. Chapter 5

**Start Chapter 5**

_Despite the minor setback Naruto had earlier, he's done really well. He's showing great improvement in every area of his ninja development. The little guy is growing up real fast; I hope this last month is as productive as the last two. He needs to get his chakra control down among other things. Well I guess we'll see how prepared he is once this is over. I'm sure his last term at the academy before he goes onto the final year will be his best thus far. Otherwise, I've failed him as a teacher._

_At Training Ground Seven_

Naruto looks up at the leaf sitting upon his forehead and concentrates on pushing chakra into it. Letting out a sliver of his energy the blonde causes the leaf to go flying off of his head, "Damn it." He sighs and tries using a lot less this time finding it hovers above his head, "Now comes the hard part he says." Focusing hard he adds the slightest amount of chakra into it and begins to spin it. Iruka looks over at his trainee and smiles in pride at the boy's success.

"Good job, now we get to move onto the next exercise." Iruka motions for the boy to follow him. Naruto comes with him and they stop in front of a tall tree, "Now you're going to learn a very practical skill, tree climbing." The Jounin sees the boy's confused look and walks up to the tree before planting his foot on it. Continuing on up a few feet the brown-haired man leaps back in front of Naruto, "This also has many other practical applications too. You need to concentrate on moving your chakra into the tree and making yourself stick. It's hard to explain, but try using a running start and you'll make it up further." Naruto sighs looking at the large tree towering over him, "Once you can climb it, we'll move onto the next exercise."

Taking a running start Naruto makes chakra flow into his feet and heads towards the tree. He makes it up several feet before being forced back onto the ground hard. The boy rubs his behind before looking at Iruka who is reading a novel before continuing on with his training. Making another attempt Naruto runs up a few feet higher this time, but feels like there must be an easier way. Thinking to himself, he puts his foot on the trunk before adding enough chakra to cause him to stick. He repeats the process, "Now keep it going." Concentrating hard the blonde keeps going up further and further until he opens his azure eyes to see, "The top! I'm at the top!" Naruto celebrates until he feels himself slipping, but manages to catch himself, "That was too close…" Wiping the sweat off his brow the blonde heads back down and proclaims, "DONE!"

Iruka looks up from his novel, "There's no way!" The Jounin says before shaking his head, "Alright then, show me." Naruto does as he's told and Iruka can't believe his eyes, "Okay, I guess we can move onto the next exercise, water-walking." Stopping for a second the Jounin asks, "Did you bring your bathing suit?" Naruto nods and pulls his swimming trunks out of his sealing scroll, "Good, go change into them and meet me by the river." Iruka heads towards the water source in a stupor, "I've never seen anyone complete that exercise in such a short period of time." Shaking his head the Jounin stops at the river where Naruto is heading towards, "Alright, this one might take you a little more time." Iruka explains the principles behind water walking and Naruto gets right to it before quickly falling in, "Hard isn't it?" The blonde grunts before getting back to his practicing. Eventually the sun begins to go down and Naruto is ankle deep in the water, which is a lot higher than earlier, "Okay let's try this tomorrow." Naruto nods and the two pack up for the night, "Hey Naruto how about some Ichiraku tonight?" Perking up at that the two heads towards their favorite eatery.

_At Ichiraku Ramen,_

Naruto finishes his second bowl of ramen and is about to start his third before looking over at Iruka who's idly staring into his bowl, "Hey Iruka what's wrong?"

The Jounin zones back in before saying, "Nothing, but I just want to know how did you get the tree-climbing so quickly?"

Thinking back Naruto recalls, "Well at first I tried the running start, then when that didn't work I just tried figuring out what amount worked." Pausing for a second to eat his third bowl, "The water-walking though isn't the same, like you said, I have to keep adjusting the amount of chakra I'm putting out. So it is a little more intensive than just figuring out one set point." Iruka nods getting the blonde's logic, "Thanks for the ramen by the way. It's been a while since I've come here."

Iruka smiles, "No problem bud, you earned it. But that doesn't mean you can slack off! We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow!" Naruto nods excitedly and the Jounin pays before the exit as they say their thanks, "Anyways, we've got a little over three more weeks to get you ready, so by the time we're done you'll be a whole new Naruto."

Naruto smiles, "I know, everyone will be so surprised when I come back and start kicking ass…" Thinking over his words, "Well, I won't be a show-off, I can't beat people if they know all my moves. So I'll just have to good, but not too good." Iruka is impressed by the maturity the blonde is showing and nods before the two part ways.

_The Week Before the Academy Resumes_

"Well Naruto you've learned everything I was going to teach you a week ahead of schedule." Naruto smiles feeling accomplished, "However, that doesn't mean you can slack off! We're going to go hard this week by testing you everyday." Iruka lines up from his student in a battle stance, "Now Naruto, show me what you've learned!" Naruto draws dual kunai before making hand seals for his spark jutsu. Amplifying the amount of chakra he causes the sparks to turn into small fireballs. He uses them as cover before hiding in the brush; Iruka opens his senses and tracks the blonde. Although the boy has hidden himself well from the Jounin's senses, his chakra-signature is still there if only barely.

A hail of shuriken comes at Iruka and he bursts into a log, Naruto quickly turns around to catch a fist from the brown-haired man, "Nice try!" The blonde is forced out into the open and makes hand seals for an overpowered air jutsu. Dividing the bullet into small balls he creates an almost invisible driving force that Iruka avoids. Leaping into the sun that blinds Naruto and he is rocked by a kick to the chest that sends him spiraling back into the water which he stays atop of, "Good you've learned to keep yourself afloat!" Sending three shuriken at the blonde before making hand seals that multiply them into a cloud.

Naruto allows his replacement to be pierced by them and gets behind Iruka with a knife, "Yield." The blonde feels a cold kunai press into his neck and sighs as Iruka puffs into smoke, "I yield."

Iruka smiles, "Good job, you fought smart and I'm sure if you had a team you could've done a lot better." The two relax before facing each other, "Now that we're warmed up, how about round two?" Naruto smiles and the two go back at it.

_Later that Day at the River_

The two share a tree trunk as a resting place watching the sunset from either side of it, "Well Naruto I must say I'm impressed." Smiling at the voice of the old man Naruto sees his old best friend, "You've come a long way from only a few months ago."

The blonde looks up, "Well I wouldn't be anywhere close to here if Iruka hadn't taken me in."

Sarutobi takes a drag from his pipe, "Naruto I expect great things from you this term, and in your final year. When you graduate I fully expect you to do even greater things." Pausing for a second the aged leader looks at the blazing sunset.

"Well it's like I told you that one night in my apartment. I plan to surpass all the Hokages!" Naruto says excitedly. Sarutobi nods before exiting the area in a swirl of leaves. The student and teacher sit there for several more hours until night begins to fall and eventually Iruka leaves, "One day, just maybe I can show the entire village that I am worthy of the name Hokage." Staring at the stars Naruto sits there in wonder for a little while longer. He gets up and stretches out his tense muscles before deciding to head home to get a good night's rest.

_The First Day of School_

Naruto collects his books and throws them in the sealing scroll. Making sure his lunch is together for the day he grabs the paper bag and tosses that in there as well. Once the blonde has done all of that he exits his apartment, but not before locking the door behind him. Walking down the hallway of his complex he feels a nice little breeze on his face and sees the sunshine peeking out. Once he gets to the main stairwell he traverses down the steps out onto the streets below. The city streets are crowded as both civilians and ninja walk along the paths. Figuring he has enough time he takes the slow way to the academy. Once he reaches the gates of the school he takes a deep breath and puts on a confident smile before saying, "I'm ready for this year to start." Continuing on his way through the courtyard he heads into the building. Once inside he goes to his new classroom and opens the door to see Iruka and several other students already inside of there, "Hey Iruka."

He says and the Jounin gives him a nod before pointing towards the back row by the window, "Naruto I know we've been training together for the past few months, but don't expect any special treatment. You're going to have to earn your grade in here, so treat me like any other teacher you've had." The blonde nods in understanding before heading back to his assigned seat. Once there he waits for the rest of the class to file in and little by little they do. Iruka waits for everyone on the roster to comes in and when the last person does he gets up and says, "Welcome to your last year at the academy, my name is Iruka and I'm going to be your instructor." Pausing for a second, "This year is going to be a lot different than the previous few you've had. We're going to do far less book learning and the majority of the class will be practical application of your ninja skills." Pulling out a small clipboard with names on it, "So if you haven't been practicing your taijutsu, basic techniques, and all of that you're going to have a tough time passing this year. I'm going to take roll now before we start our start of year examination." The brown-haired Jounin begins going over the list of names. As he finishes he picks up another clipboard, "Now everyone follow me outside and we're going to do some conditioning testing."

The class collectively groans and the teacher heads out the door. Everyone follows suit and Naruto stays at the back with Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kiba. The blonde boy says, "So have you guys done anything over the break at all?" The group nods and mostly says training with their families, "I guess we'll find out what everyone else has been up to now." As they approach the track Iruka stops the class doing a head count to make sure everyone is still there.

Pointing to the track he says, "Alright, now I want you guys to run twenty laps as fast you can. Stretch and warm up before, so you don't go pulling anything the first day of class." The Jounin gives the class ten minutes to warm up before lining them up at a starting point, "Everyone ready?" A collective silence is hanging over the group and Iruka blows a whistle. The students take a running start and are off to a good beginning for the first few laps. It becomes apparent to Iruka who hasn't done anything over the last few months very quickly. He notices Naruto and Sasuke at the front seemingly neck and neck for first. The Jounin smiles as the blonde pulls away the last two laps and comes in first by a good hundred meters, "Well it seems our top student has some competition this year." Sasuke growls a little at the comment and goes to sulk as everyone slowly begins to finish, "Now that everyone is done we're going to do a test of your weapons accuracy at the target range."

Sasuke smiles knowing he's definitely got the blonde idiot on this one. The class heads towards the target range and Naruto lines up from his dummy. Sasuke being the show off he is throws all five of his kunai at once hitting each bull's eye. Not letting the display get to him the blonde lines up and throws each of his kunai separately. He manages to hit each of the targets on the bull's eye as well "I guess you aren't better than me at everything huh?" Naruto brushes off the comments before collecting his weapons once he gets the go ahead.

Iruka notices the blonde's self-control and cracks a little smile, "Okay everyone settle down, it's time for a taijutsu examination. I want you to run through the basic katas on your own and I will watch you." The brown-haired man calls out names until he reaches, "Naruto Uzumaki, come forward." Nodding at the blonde as he approaches the line, "Whenever you're ready, go ahead." Naruto flawlessly goes through the basic movements at a good speed surprising the Uchiha. Once everyone has gone Iruka motions for the group to come inside, "Alright we're going to do the Academy three demonstration inside." The group heads inside back to the classroom taking their seats once again, "Okay let's get started." As people get through demonstrating their skills the clock ticks closer towards the end of the day.

Naruto's turn comes up and he runs through the first two jutsu before attempting the clone technique pulling it off with ease. Iruka nods in approval at the boy's jutsu and calls out the rest of the names. Once the last person has gone the final bell of the day rings, "Alright everyone good job, those of you who didn't do so well I hope you work on those issues. I'm sure by the end of the year you'll be able to do everything that's required of you without issue." Dismissing the class for the day everyone, but Naruto leaves, "Since I'm going to be your instructor this year I won't be able to help you outside of class." The blonde looks a little downtrodden at that news, "However, that doesn't mean I don't expect you to keep practicing what you've learned. I want you to keep up the good work even in my absence, but if there is an issue just come see me okay?"

The blonde boy nods before leaving the room after a successful day to go train…

**End Chapter 5**


	6. Chapter 6

**Start Chapter 6**

_Although I can't directly help Naruto anymore, that doesn't mean he won't improve on his own. He just needs to keep up the hard work. Maybe he'll find someone who has the time and is allowed to teach him in due time. For now I have to sort out all of this paperwork. I forgot how much more annoying it to be a teacher rather than just being an administrator. I hope he'll make good use of that spot I showed him._

_At Naruto's Secret Training Spot_

The blonde academy student looks at the training log in front of him before slowly running through his basic taijutsu sequence on it. The rhythmic thump of wood fills the clearing as he beats down on the large piece of wood. His pace begins to pick up as the time goes on and for a little while the world is lost to him. Sweat starts to drip off of his brow and breathing starts to become gradually more difficult. Once Naruto reaches the point of exhaustion he lands a spinning kick to the training post that puts a crack in it.

"That's a mean kick you have there." The blonde turns around to see a man in a bandanna, sunglasses, and a dark blue Jounin outfit, "Sorry I couldn't help, but noticing your hard work. My name is Ebisu and I am a renowned teacher in the Leaf Village." The man takes a look at the boy before smiling, "I am also a good friend of Iruka's in case you were wondering how I found this place."

Naruto wipes off his head before nodding, "Did Iruka send you here to help teach me?" Putting his hands on his waist the blonde puffs a little before finally catching his breath, "I'd appreciate any help you could give me, because honestly I feel as though I'm not going to get very far on my own." The sunglass-wearing man nods, "Well what do you suggest I do?"

Ebisu laughs lightly, "Now, now a good teacher doesn't just tell you what you need to do. You tell me what you need to work on and maybe I'll have a solution." The Jounin lets Naruto think for a bit. As the time passes Naruto compiles a list of things in his head, "Well what do you need to work on?"

"Mainly chakra control and jutsu execution, but I could also use some help on my overall speed in close combat situations. Plus I need to work on making strategies before I go into battle rather than coming up with things on the fly." Naruto says before letting Ebisu think for a bit. The Jounin takes out a sheet of paper and pen before listing things that he could possibly teach the blonde. Dotting his last period and nodding the man hands the boy a list, "Well I can tell you I've learned most of these chakra control exercises and they've become almost second nature. I would like to pick up Shougi though and training weights?"

Ebisu nods, "I'll show you some more chakra control exercises, but they're geared towards your affinities. Also I'll get you training weights, I know a guy who has plenty to spare. As for combat speed and planning, we'll work on those together." The man smiles, "Meet me here tomorrow after the academy lets out and we'll talk more. For now you can go back to your training." In a puff of smoke the man disappears from the area leaving Naruto to his practice. Turning towards the target dummies he pulls out his kunai and begins practicing his accuracy. Once he feels he's done enough the blonde heads back home for the night.

_The Next Day at the Academy_

Naruto sits at his desk taking notes on Iruka's lecture and the lunch bell rings mid-sentence, "Alright class take your lunch break and we'll pick up where we left." The blonde grabs his sealing scroll before heading out into the academy courtyard to his favorite eating spot. Although, it reminds him of the past the lone swing helps him remember how far he has actually come from those times. Slowly eating his lunch the blonde enjoys the sunshine and light breeze going across the city. As he finishes his lunch he hears the end of lunch bell ring and Naruto heads inside back to class.

_Later that Day During a Lecture_

Iruka asks the class, "When dealing with an unexpected combat situation what do you think is the best course of action?" Looking over the classroom he sees that Sakura's hand is up, "Sakura, go ahead and tell us what you would do." The pink-haired girl smiles and explains that you should create a distraction before getting into cover before quickly coming up with a plan. She looks over to Sasuke for approval, but the Uchiha doesn't even acknowledge her, "Any other answers?"  
Naruto raises his hand Iruka nods for him to go ahead, "Like she said create a distraction, but prepare a replacement technique possible with some kind of trap like an explosive tag. Then quickly locate them using chakra sensing techniques, and from there decide what to do." Pausing to think for a second the blonde continues, "If they're still at the sight of the explosion do a double check of the surrounding area in case they're still alive or there are more hostiles. Then move in for the kill if you're sure the coast is clear, but still keep a wary eye the whole time. Chances are if they're good enough they won't have been caught up in the trap."

The Jounin smiles, "Good job a little more detailed than necessary, but by far the right way to go about things. Now if they do survive the trap, you can…" Iruka continues explaining possible outcomes and Naruto keeps taking notes on the lecture. Eventually the final bell rings for the day and the class lets out. Naruto immediately begins heading towards his secret training spot. On his way there he decides to take the ninja highway on the rooftops. Finding the nearest building he climbs up it using the tree-climbing technique and begins bounding from rooftop to rooftop. The wind whips in his face as he feels the excitement within him grow. Once Naruto gets near the Hokage Mountain he travels down back to street level. Walking to the stairs he begins the trek up the enormous set of steps. As he reaches the top flight after a good amount of effort he takes a deep breath before climbing up the side of the mountain. Being a short distance he gets up there with relative ease and continues his journey into the forest.

Naruto sees Ebisu waiting for him in a clearing and calls out to the Jounin, "Hey I'm here." The sunglass-wearing man nods before motioning for the blonde to be quiet as he comes over. Edging towards the man Naruto stands next to him and looks to where the Jounin points. It's a mother swan tending to its eggs by the small lake and suddenly they begin to crack and soon after some hatchling swan pop out. The father comes flying in to the nest and the two birds nuzzle each other as they see their newborn children coming into the world. Naruto at first is confused, but then sees the beauty in that moment, as he thinks about it harder. Something pangs inside of the blonde's chest at the sight of a happy family.

Ebisu notices the boy's azure eyes turning misty and quietly says, "Let's get to some training." Naruto nods before leaving the area with the Jounin. Once they're well out of earshot of the new family Ebisu pulls out a leaf, "You are going to split this using wind chakra, although that may sound simple it is a lot harder than it sounds." Ebisu hands the blonde the leaf, "From what I've been told you need to imagine your chakra as a thin blade to foster wind chakra effectively. The thinner the blade the better, now give it a try." Taking a look at the leaf before placing it in between his hands the blonde tries to visualize his chakra as a blade. At first nothing happens, but as he runs the chakra through the piece of greenery he hears a small rip. He opens his hands and sure enough the piece of forest has torn at the top even if only a little, "That's a good first try, now keep practicing that for a little while until you can tear a leaf completely without any trouble." Naruto nods before steeling his resolve and grabbing another leaf to practice splitting. Eventually after a few hours of trying Naruto manages to get the leaf torn halfway and begins to feel frustrated at his slow progress, "Don't let yourself get angry, it can take months or even years before someone gets the leaf partially torn. Right now you're doing a lot better than the majority of the population."

The blonde boy sighs, "If you say so." Getting back to work Naruto gives the exercise another few hours. He begins to grow tired as his chakra reservoirs begin to dwindle down to nothing, "Ebisu, can we do something else? I need a break from this or I'm going to pass out." The Jounin nods before pulling out some training weights for the blonde to try on. Snapping the metal bands around his ankles and wrists Naruto feels significantly heavier, "Jeez, who wore these, a gorilla?"

Ebisu laughs at the boy's comment before shaking his head and replying, "No, just a crazy guy in green spandex, you might meet him one day." Lining up in a defensive stance the Jounin says, "Come Naruto, show me what you've got!" The blonde goes to attack the man from the side and fails due to the newly added resistance to his body. He gets thrown back into a tree and his body hits the trunk with a resounding thump, "Come on, my grandmother can move faster than that! Just because you have a little extra weight on you doesn't mean anything!" Naruto sighs before getting up and brushing himself off to prepare for another round of combat. Eventually the blonde becomes so tired and worn down he collapses. Ebisu laughs at the boy's tenacity, "This kid doesn't know the meaning of quit I guess." He smiles before picking up the boy and slinging him on his shoulder. Walking away from the training ground he takes the boy home and lays him in bed. Setting the alarm for the blonde Ebisu stands over Naruto glad that he got such a good kid from Iruka to train, "Maybe one day I can get you where you need to be." In a puff of smoke the Jounin leaves for his home.

_The Next Day_

Naruto's alarm blares as he wakes up from the previous day feeling sore all over his body; "Well at least he got me home." Laughing hurts as his body is still not fully recovered from yesterday's training session. Plus the added weight to his frame doesn't help either, "Time to get going." Getting up and out of bed the blonde takes off his clothes and weights to get a shower before breakfast. Once the hot water is flowing the boy steps in and instantly feels the soreness from the previous night starting to leave his body, "Nothing like a hot shower to get rid of soreness." As he finishes up cleaning off he goes to his room and begins getting dressed for the day. Heading into the kitchen he prepares a breakfast sandwich to get him fueled and ready to go.

_In the Academy Classroom_

Iruka finishes attendance and clicks his pen before saying, "Alright everyone we're going to do some taijutsu practice out in the training ground." The class gets up and follows their instructor out to the training area, "Okay everyone find a partner of equal skill." Sasuke grabs Naruto and the blonde pulls his arm away before nodding in acknowledgement, "Okay line up from one another and make the sign of ninja." The two boys do as they're told, "Begin whenever you're ready." Sasuke motions for Naruto to come, but the blonde stays put. Growing frustrated the Uchiha comes at the boy trying for a feint, but Naruto reads it and counters with a rising wind kick. His foot makes contact with the raven-haired boy's jaw sending him up in the air. Sasuke lands hard on his butt cradling his jaw. Growling in frustration he comes at Naruto this time at an angle, once again the blonde isn't fooled and redirects his weight sending Sasuke tumbling away.

"Jeez, Sasuke I thought you were supposed to be of equal skill level." Naruto taunts causing the Uchiha to shake his head and begin making hand seals. The blonde recognizes a fire jutsu coming and quickly grabs Sasuke's hands before punching Sasuke's head up so the fireball blows into the air, "What the hell Sasuke? Are you trying to kill me? This is practice not combat!" Iruka quickly comes over and grabs the boy before taking him away from the area. Everyone stops and murmurs about the blonde's improved skills, "I guess I better watch what I say next time." Sighing the boy waits for the Jounin to come back.

Iruka calls out, "Everyone back inside, since Sasuke has shown such a lack of self-control we are going to have lecture for the rest of the day." A collective groan goes over the class as they head inside downtrodden about the turn of events, "Naruto come here." The blonde gulps before walking towards his teacher, "I know you were just trying to get Sasuke riled up to beat him, but next time don't say anything. The last thing I want is you going to the hospital with burns all over your body." Naruto nods and the two begin heading inside for the modified lesson.

_Later that Day on the Streets_

Naruto spots Sasuke walking home as he heads towards his training ground the Uchiha looks back and the two make eye contact. The raven-haired boy runs towards Naruto and the blonde heads into a nearby alleyway to disappear onto a rooftop. Naruto gets away and decides to opt for the ninja highway to get to his spot. Once at the training grounds Naruto grabs a leaf and begins to get to work on the exercise he was shown last night. Ebisu comes onto the scene observing the blonde already at work on the leaf-splitting exercise. He smiles at the boy's work ethic and lets him practice until the blonde sits down clearly exhausted, "I see you've been hard at work." Naruto smiles wearily and the Jounin puts down a shougi board, "Now how about a change of pace?" The boy nods and Ebisu begins explaining the game and the two start playing. At first Naruto loses a lot, but keeps his cool knowing this takes time to learn. Eventually he gets the hang of it and begins to start putting together good strategies, "Now the key to shougi is always thinking several moves ahead of your opponent. Instead of just coming up with strategies on the fly try doing it ahead of time." The boy tries to use this strategy and winds up making a lot more mistakes, but after a while it start to click. Ebisu sees this and smiles at the blonde's progress. Once the sun begins to set Ebisu says, "Well that's enough for today. I'll see you tomorrow." Picking up the pieces and board the Jounin leaves in a puff smoke.

Feeling refreshed Naruto decides to get to work on some accuracy practice, "May as well do something else while I'm here." For a few more hours until night completely falls the blonde works on some target practice. Once the moon comes out he collects his weapons and decides to head home feeling he's done enough for the day…

**End Chapter 6**


	7. Chapter 7

**Start Chapter 7**

_After that close call with Naruto and Sasuke I don't know what I'm going to do. That cannot happen again, but I know for a fact they're going to be on a team together at the end of this year. Hopefully I can figure out a way to keep the tensions down for now and maybe their instructor can do the rest. Well time to grade some papers because Sasuke's a little brat…_

_Several Weeks Later at Naruto's House_

The blonde boy sits writing up the last of his homework when a knock at his door pulls him from it. Not expecting any visitors Naruto grabs a kunai and puts it in his sleeve as he looks out the kitchen window. He sees Iruka standing there and cautiously opens the door, "Iruka what are you doing here?"  
Smiling at the boy Iruka says, "I just wanted to check up on you." Naruto nods letting the man into his apartment, "How's everything been going with Ebisu?" The boy shrugs his shoulders indifferently, "I know you were used to me, but obviously we can't always get what we want." Looking over at the blonde's desk he sees school books, "I see you're keeping up on your bookwork."

Naruto nods, "Yeah, I may as well try to bring up my grades as much as possible before the end of the year." Pausing for a second, "Do you want anything to eat?" The Jounin shakes his head, "Alright, well let's take a seat at least." Naruto grabs his cup of coffee he had on the desk and sips on it, "So, how is being an academy teacher treating you?"

Iruka shrugs his shoulders, "Not too bad, it's a lot more paperwork than I'm used to, but I'm managing it." Looking out the window the Jounin sees the full moon hanging in the sky, "You and Sasuke doing alright outside of the academy?"

The blonde shakes his head, "Not really he always tries to follow me when I try to go that secret spot you showed me. I think he wants to prove himself or something by beating me." Sighing in annoyance at the thought of the Uchiha, "I want to talk to him about it, but every time I try to go up to him at the academy he just walks away." The boy rubs his temples, "I don't want to be friends with him, but I don't want a repeat of taijutsu practice." Iruka nods in understanding, "Maybe I should just let him be for now?"

Taking a moment to think the brown-haired Jounin puts his hand on Naruto's shoulder, "Don't worry about it, I'm sure with some more time he'll open up to suggestion."

Naruto laughs dryly, "I have a feeling he isn't one to let go after getting embarrassed like that." Iruka sighs at the blonde, "We'll just have to give him some more time. If he attacks me again like that I know something will need to be done."

The Jounin nods before getting up to leave, "Alright, I'm going to let you get back to work. Just keep pushing Naruto and I'm sure everything will turn out for the best." Nodding the boy watches Iruka walk out the door and gets up to get back to work on his school studies.

_The Next Day in Class_

Naruto answers the last question on the quiz before handing it into Iruka and leaving to go to lunch. Once outside he takes his usual place at the swing before getting his lunch out. Halfway through his meal he sees a spiky shadow on the ground, "Sasuke I'm not going to fight you." Looking up at the Uchiha, "If all you want is revenge then you're wasting your time on me because I won't give you the satisfaction."  
The raven-haired boy grunts before saying, "You're just a coward." Naruto takes another bite from his sandwich and ignores the boy, "You won't fight me because you're scared of me."

Continuing consuming his meal the blonde smiles, "No I just want to be able to graduate, and get on with my life. Fighting you would only prevent that from happening and honestly you're not worth it." Finishing up his sandwich the boy pulls out his banana and starts peeling it before taking a bite, "You want something to eat? If you're going to stand there you may as well not go hungry." Sasuke is surprised by the blonde's kind gesture before turning away and leaving the area, "Jeez, I was just trying to be nice." He shakes his head before another spiky shadow comes into his view this one is slightly different and he looks up to see, "Sakura, you here to antagonize me about Sasuke? Or do you want this apple I packed?" Extending hand with the piece of fruit the pink-haired girl smacks it out of his hand, "Well that wasn't very nice, and wasteful at that. That apple was perfectly good." He gets up to collect the piece of fruit on the ground before washing it off with a simple water jutsu. The red apple shines like new, "At least I can have it later now." Sealing it away in his sealing scroll Naruto gets up, "Is there something I can help you with? Or do you just intend on standing there for the rest of lunch?" The pink-haired girl growls and her fellow fan-girls join her; "If you all want me to fight Sasuke, then get a date from him. However, you can't tell him that it's so I'll fight him, if you do I'll know and the bet is off." Brushing off the seat of his pants Naruto heads in as the lunch bell rings, "Well I took care of that pretty easily." As he walks down the hallway he senses a presence, "Did you really accept their request just to fight me?"

Naruto turns around to face the Uchiha, "No, I did it so I can destroy you." The blonde breaks out into hysterical laughter pointing at Sasuke, "What's so funny?"

Gathering his wits the boy says, "You really are pathetic." Naruto looks down as he says this, "You can go fuck yourself for all I care, maybe cut your wrists while you whine about Itachi killing your family." Pulling out a kunai Naruto runs the knife up through the air and then across, "Remember up the road for results, across the road for attention." He tosses the Uchiha the knife and Sasuke sends it right back at him. Naruto catches the projectile by the handle just short of his face, "Sasuke in all honesty, I don't want to fight you, just move on and we can at least coexist." The raven-haired boy growls before going to make hand seals. This time Naruto doesn't hesitate and draws a kunai to stab Sasuke's hands to each wall cause the boy to scream in pain, "Sasuke, you fucking idiot! Not only could you kill me, you can burn down this place and kill everyone else trapped inside." The Uchiha growls "Stop! That's enough!" Blood flows out of the boy's hands as he struggles. Naruto grabs the boy's wrist before dislodging the knife and making one-handed seal for a basic medical ninjutsu. The blonde's hands glow green and he heals the Uchiha's one hand, "Now let me fix the other, and don't try anything before I do the same thing." Repeating the process Naruto heals the boy's hands, "Leave before everyone get here." Voices come from down the hall and Sasuke just stands there in shock, "GO!" Shaking off the surprise Sasuke runs out of the academy and Naruto waits for the ninja to get there. Once they've arrived Naruto explains the situation leaving out the part about Sasuke attacking him.

Sasuke is hiding behind a pole nearby listening the entire transaction wondering what the hell Naruto is thinking, "He's going to get in so much trouble."

Iruka's voice cuts from behind him, "Not as much as you're about to." The Jounin grabs the Uchiha before taking him to the only place he can.

_In the Hokage's Office_

Naruto sits outside the village military leader's office twiddling his thumbs nervously, "I hope they don't get Sasuke in too much trouble." The blonde sighs and leans back against the wall before the door opens and Iruka pops out. Motioning for Naruto to come in the boy follows the brown-haired man inside. Once in there he takes a seat facing the Third Hokage who looks neutral at this point.

Sarutobi takes a drag from his pipe and breathes out the smoke heavily, "You're not in any trouble by me Naruto or officially." Sighing the elderly leader looks into the boy's azure eyes, "You have nothing to be nervous about Iruka saw the whole thing, but I would like to know why you lied." Pausing to lean back in the large chair the man waits for an answer, "Most people would have immediately blamed Sasuke for everything, but you were willing to take the fall for someone who tried to kill you."

The blonde boy looks into the older man's eyes, "I don't want to screw over a comrade even if they try to kill me. He's just lost right now and needs someone to show him kindness that isn't out of some ulterior motive." Looking out the window at the Hokage Mountain, "Besides a Hokage has to know when to lie, some times it's better for the village. If everyone sees their hero as a villain then hope is lost." Stopping for a second to think, "People see Sasuke as a hero because he survived the Uchiha Massacre, the last thing they need to know is that he's as bad as his brother."

The Third is shocked by the maturity and wisdom behind those words and can't think of something to say for several minutes. After a while he says, "Naruto, you've just shown wisdom beyond your years with that statement. Even though it isn't fair to you, you were willing to put the good of the village ahead of yourself. That is a quality that every Hokage must possess and some day you will make a fine one." Smiling lightly at the boy, "However, you must also know when punishment for certain actions is necessary and despite Sasuke's status he will be punished. He will not be allowed to become a ninja for this village under my rule until he has truly learned his lesson."

Naruto looks shocked at this level of seriousness and shakes his head, "No, let me do it and make sure he knows I did that for him. He won't learn his lesson, he'll only grow more resentful of the village and his connection with it will fade." Thinking quickly of a solution the blonde says, "Just let me take the exam and graduate early. Put me on a special team where I can run missions with a superior until I'm ready to do them on my own."

The Hokage takes one final drag from his pipe before putting it out, "Although you make a good point I won't allow Sasuke actions to go without consequence. Besides, part of being a leaf ninja is learning to work with others for a greater cause. You can't just be a lone wolf here."

Sighing Naruto says, "At least let me take the exam early, I don't think any of my classmates like me anyway and the last thing we need is friction on teams." Bowing his head and clapping his hands pleading for that, "Please, just do it and if I can't make it this way I won't bring it up again."

Bowing his head in thought Sarutobi says, "Fine, you can take the exam, but you will be put on a team with an instructor of my choosing. Sasuke will still be punished though, but a little bit differently than originally." Writing something down on a piece of paper the leader hands it to Iruka, "You will take your exam tomorrow and if you pass you will be put on an apprenticeship with Iruka."

"Thank you, I won't let you down." Naruto says looking up with bright azure eyes.

"Alright, just get some rest you have a big day tomorrow." Sarutobi says dismissing the boy. Naruto gets up and leaves the two alone to head home.

Iruka looks at the Hokage, "So what are you going to do with Sasuke?"

Sarutobi smiles deviously, "He's going to be running D-rank missions for free until he learns his lesson. All of the worst ones too." The two share a laugh before the Jounin leaves in a puff of smoke. Looking out the window at the Fourth Hokage's stone visage he says, "Minato, you're boy is going to make you proud."  
_At Naruto's Apartment that Night_

Naruto goes over his supplies one last time before turning out the light in his apartment living room, "I guess I'll find out tomorrow whether or not I'm ready for this challenge." Heading into his bedroom the blonde sets his alarm for the next day. He gets undressed and looks in the mirror, "Maybe I should stop being so selfless all the time, one of these days it's going to get me killed." Shaking his head Naruto climbs into bed before turning out the light in his room.

_The Next Day after Naruto Finished the Exam_

Iruka totals up the score of Naruto's results and sighs, "You passed with a perfect score Naruto, looks like you're a Genin now." Handing the boy a black headband Naruto takes it and ties it on his head, "Prove to me and the Hokage that we were right allowing you to do this."

The blonde nods in pride, "I won't let you down and that's a promise." His azure eyes burn with conviction, "Now it begins." Naruto looks out the window, "It's the start of a new journey, a different journey." Smiling and turning around Naruto leaves the classroom and Iruka to his thoughts…

**End Chapter 7 and The Academy: Making the Grade Arc**


	8. Chapter 8

**Start Chapter 8 and The Course to Chuunin Arc**

_I can't believe Naruto passed the exam so easily. Now I won't be in the academy, but out in the field again. I guess I'll have to sharpen my skills back to where they once were in the past. This kid is just full of surprises and I can't wait until he reaches his dream of Hokage one day. Who knows, maybe he'll be the greatest one we ever know?_

_At the Mission's Office_

Naruto reads over the scroll that the Third hands him before Iruka, "It's a basic document pick up from the outpost by the border of Fire Country." The elderly leader says, "Once you retrieve the required papers come back to Leaf Village that's it."

Iruka nods and says, "Alright sounds good, and come on Naruto lets get a move on so we can get this mission done." The blonde follows the Jounin outside of the mission hall and eventually they make their way to the village gates, "You packed and ready to go?"

The blonde Genin nods, "Yep, let's get the show on the road!" Checking in at the gate the two head out of the village along the main road. Walking for a little while they eventually break into a run heading towards the outpost.

_At the Border of Fire Country Several Days Later_

Naruto and Iruka come up to the building by the border and a Chuunin comes out to hand them the documents, "Here you go." He says as he hands the pair the scroll containing a report, "Have a safe journey back you two."

They nod and begin the trek back to the Leaf Village. That night they stop and make camp, "I'll take first watch this time." Naruto says and Iruka nods before lying against a log to get a little rest. The blonde Genin maintains vigilance as he pulls out a book on sealing. A few hours later he marks the page and goes to wake up Iruka, but a rustle in the bushes pulls him away, "Iruka wake up, I think we have company." The blonde draws a kunai and the brown-haired man does the same. However, out from the bush comes a small deer fawn that quickly scurries back, "False alarm." They both breathe a sigh of relief and Naruto lays down this time.

In the morning Iruka shakes the blonde awake, "Time to get going bud." Naruto gets up quickly and they clear the evidence of their campsite before heading back on the road. Halfway through their trip they hear a commotion going on in the forest, "We better check that out in case someone needs our help." Naruto nods and they quietly move through the brush to see a bandit campsite. Looking it over the see women and children locked up in a makeshift cage, "Although I'd rather not get into a fight I think these people need our help." The two devise a plan to silently take out the criminals and rescue the hostages.

Naruto creeps into a tent where several bandits sleep and quickly cuts their throats to dispatch them. Iruka does the same and they eventually whittle down the bandit camp to the leader. They nod and Iruka cuts the hulking man's throat from behind ending the low life's existence. Cutting open the lock the they let out the hostages who thank them for the kindness, "Is there anything we can do to repay you?" A man says and they shake their head, "We'll make sure to send our regards back to the Leaf Village."

Iruka and Naruto smile at each other, "Just get back home safely and try to set up some kind of defenses around your homes in case they come back." The civilians nod and the two leave the scene knowing they've done something good. Heading back onto the main road the pair picks up their pace on the way back.

_Back at the Hokage's Office_

"Good job completing your mission and stopping those bandits. We had actually gotten a mission request for that, so you will be compensated and be credited for a B-rank mission as well." Sarutobi says and the pair smiles as they collect their reward, "Keep up the good work Naruto, I expect you to do great things."

The blonde nods and the two exit the building "Get some rest tonight and show up at our training spot tomorrow. We have some serious work to do if we're going to get you ready for harder mission." Naruto smiles and heads home leaving the Jounin to take care of his business for the day.

_At Naruto's Apartment_

Naruto lays down his stuff before going to the bathroom and taking his first hot shower in a while. Once done with that he wanders over to the kitchen and prepares a hot meal. Sitting at his dinner table enjoying the home-cooked food he realizes how much he takes for granted, "Funny, I never thought eating this would be so much better than it usually is." Taking another bite of his chicken Naruto feels content, "I guess going on missions makes you realize how much you take for granted on a daily basis." The blonde shrugs his shoulders as he finishes his meal and cleans up the kitchen. Grabbing his book on seals he begins to read the final chapter. An hour later he turns the last page of it before closing the reading material and smiling, "I guess Jiraiya of the Sannin guy knows what he's talking about." Looking at other books by the author he notices some adult novels, "He's also a huge pervert I guess." Laughing lightly he stows the book on the shelf before yawning and looking at the clock, "Time for bed." Naruto heads into his room and prepares to rest for the night.

_The Next Day at the Secret Training Spot_

Naruto sweats and pants as he blocks blows from Iruka. He feels fatigued and sweat now flows freely down his face. The Jounin lands a spinning kick that sends him careening into a tree trunk, "I suppose that's enough taijutsu for the day." Naruto smiles wearily in agreement, "How about some shougi for a change of pace?" The blonde Genin nods and they sit down to the game board. As they progress through a few games Naruto notices that Iruka is a lot tougher of an opponent than Ebisu was, "Having trouble there Naruto?"

The Genin laughs before making his move that puts Iruka in checkmate, "Not so much anymore." The Jounin looks surprised as he loses the first game in a while to the boy, "Checkmate." Setting up another game the blonde doesn't have as much success the next time around, "Well I can't win them all I guess." Packing up the game pieces and board the two decide to work on some chakra control for a bit, "I mastered the leaf splitting exercise, so what's next?"

Iruka looks at the scroll, "Waterfall splitting, it's like the leaf one, but this should take you a lot longer to even get close to grasping." The two walk over to the small waterfall that crashes by the site, "It's the same concept just on a larger and more powerful scale." Naruto looks at the falls before placing his hand in the ice-cold water and running chakra through it. He makes a small gap in the flowing water around his hands and sighs, "I'll sit over here while you work on that." Nodding the blonde gets to work while the Jounin takes a perch on a nearby branch to read.

For several hours Naruto attempts to make progress, but eventually his chakra reservoirs begin to dwindle down to nothing, "I think I've had enough for today." The Jounin looks up and the two call it a day.

"We'll meet here tomorrow at the same time and start with that." Splitting up for the day Naruto decides to head to Ichiraku Ramen. On his way there he sees Sasuke walking along and quickly hides until he passes. Once the coast is clear the blonde continues his journey to the small eatery.

He enters the stand and calls out, "Old Man Ichiraku! I'm going to need a few bowls of Miso!" The old man comes out of the back with a huge grin and the two make small talk for a bit until the soup is ready. Naruto digs into the bowl of steaming noodles slowly and enjoys every bit of it. As he finishes his last bit he wipes his face and pays his bill. Heading back onto the streets the blonde makes his way home.

_The Next Day_

Naruto places his hands in the waterfall before channeling large amounts of wind chakra into the flowing water. Concentrating hard he releases the energy and causes a small upward gap in the liquid, "Yes!" He cries out before steeling himself for another go at it. Iruka looks up from his novel to see his student's success and smiles to himself before continuing his reading. As time passes Naruto gradually makes his way a quarter up the waterfall before calling it for that, "Iruka do you have anything else planned?"

The Jounin shrugs, "What do you want to work on?" Naruto strokes his chin in thought before pulling out a brush, ink, and paper, "Sealing huh? I might need to call in a friend on this, so you don't go blowing yourself up. However, for now I should be able to help you on the basics." The two sit down and begin working on the delicate art of sealing jutsu for a little while until night falls, "Well I think we shouldn't work on this in the dark, so let's call it day shall we?" Naruto agrees and the two leave the area for the day.

_Several Days Later in the Mission Hall_

Iruka looks over a scroll, "Are you sure we should be running a mission like this so soon?" The Jounin is hesitant, "I know we beat some low-level bandits last time, but I think the possibility of enemy ninja is a little too much just yet." Naruto stays silent as the two superior ninja talk. After a bit they come to an agreement, "We'll do some reconnaissance and if I determine it's not too difficult we'll engage them does that sound good?"

Sarutobi smiles, "That is acceptable, I'm sure you'll make the right decision on this one." The two ninja bow before heading out into the village.

The Jounin says, "Naruto I want you to pack some extra supplies and bring you're A-game for this. Just in case the scouting goes bad be prepared to fight." Naruto nods and they grab their required supplies for the mission at their homes before reconvening at the gates, "Alright let's go!"

_A Day Later Somewhere in Fire Country_

Naruto and Iruka are scoping out the bandit camp from a distance on a hill. The Jounin looks over the inhabitants and sees some low-level criminals, "Well I think we can take them, but we're going to have to be careful. None of these guys really pose a threat to us, but be ready for the worst." The two ninja head toward the camp keeping an eye out for any traps on the way. Avoiding several trip wires they get near the base camp with concealed chakra signatures. Looking for any hostages they see none and begin setting up explosive seals around the area. They creep back from the blast radius before activating the tags sending the place into a blazing inferno. Screams of pain ring out from the camp as ninja and bandits are burned alive. Once the flames have settled they inspect cautiously for any signs of life. Several members of the group are twitch and they end their misery. Cutting off the heads of those with bounties on their heads and stowing them away they erase any signs that the base ever existed.

_Back at the Hokage's Office_

"Back so soon?" Sarutobi says and Naruto pulls out a scroll containing the heads of the wanted criminals, "Well it looks like you managed to take care of parts of the bingo book, good job. I'll make sure the Hunter-ninja division gets you your rewards for their bounties." The Hokage looks at the blonde who looks slightly shaken, "Are you alright Naruto?"

The blonde looks up and shakes his head, "Well I'm just not used to all of this death around me, and I guess it'll just take some adjustment."

Smiling the Hokage says, "Naruto it's perfectly normal, it means you're human if you don't enjoy killing. If you did there would be a bigger problem, so why don't you talk to Iruka about it? Maybe take an extra week off from missions to sort out your feelings." Iruka nods and takes the blonde with him from the missions office, "I'm going to have to let him know soon." The Hokage sighs at the thought of the talk about the nine-tails, "I'll wait until he's used to being a ninja before bringing that up." Rubbing his temples the elderly leader puts back on his serious face for the next group of ninja.

_At Iruka's Apartment_

Naruto sips on the green tea Iruka handed him before saying; "I don't know why I haven't thought about it until now. Maybe, I'm just not cut out for this?"

Iruka pats the blonde's shoulder, "Naruto I'm going to let you in on a secret, killing people sucks." Naruto dryly chuckles at that statement, "However, you have to remember why you're killing them. They were low lives that raped, pillaged, and in some cases betrayed their home villages. If you keep that in mind it'll make it a lot easier to deal with the emotions you're feeling right now." The blonde take another sip from his tea and smiles at his mentor, "Good, now rest up for tomorrow. We have a lot to do!"

Heading out the door to his apartment Naruto feels a lot better after that pep talk from Iruka.

_Several Weeks of Training Later_

Naruto feels rejuvenated as he steps into the mission hall for the first time in a few weeks, "So what am I going to do today?"

Sarutobi smiles at the blonde boy's renewed energy and picks out a C-ranked mission from the pile, "An escort mission to the grass village." Waving for the client to come in, "This is Douin you will be taking him back home to his home, you'll just need to protect him from the occasional bandit." The merchant nods at the two extending his hand for a handshake that they return, "Good luck you two, keep this good man safe."

The trio heads out into the village and Douin looks at them before saying, "Just to let you know I have some very important items with me that I couldn't sell here mostly clothing and some rare herbs. That's the reason I desire a little ninja protection; I'd rather not lose part of my livelihood if I can help it." The two ninja nod and they head through the village making their way to the gates and beyond.

_At the Merchant's Home in Grass Village_

Douin calls out to his family, "I'm back!" His two children come running up to hug their father and his wife looks through a doorway smiling, "Would you two like to stay for the night? I have several spare rooms that you could stay in." Naruto looks at the happiness of the family sadly as he recalls his lack of it.

Iruka shakes his head, "No thank you, but we appreciate the offer. We have to get back home ourselves." He tugs at the blonde Genin's arm and the two make their way home, "Naruto I know what you're feeling right now, I was there too once." The blonde looks up at his mentor's brown eyes feeling a little better, "Come on, and let's get going to our home." The two break out into a running pace heading back to the Leaf Village.

_Back in the Leaf Village after Checking in with the Hokage_

Naruto opens his apartment placing his stuff down on the table before taking a seat in his living room. A knock at his door pulls him away and he opens it to see the Hokage standing outside, "Can I come in?" Naruto nods and the elderly leader makes his way back in, "I see you've managed to keep this place up pretty well." The blonde smiles thanking the man, "Naruto sit down I have something very important to tell you." The boy takes his place on a seat and the Hokage sighs, "I'm going to tell you something that's been a secret for twelve years. The night of the nine-tails attack the Fourth Hokage didn't defeat the beast he sealed it."

"Inside of me right?" Naruto finishes the statement, "I figured that out a little while ago, but I wasn't positive about it." Pausing to think, "Why else would everyone in the village hate me? Why did I always have so much chakra? And I was born on the night of the attack. It all fit together pretty easily." Sarutobi is shocked by the boy's insight on the matter and wonders if he knows the real truth, "I also have an idea of who my father might be, you took his place after he sealed the nine-tails in me."

The Hokage becomes concerned at the blonde's knowledge, "How did you figure all this out?"

Naruto looks up at the man with cool azure eyes as he says, "I'm surprised nobody else has figured it out." He thinks for a second choosing his words carefully, "I may have a different last name, but for the love of god I look almost exactly like him and he chose me as the vessel for the beast." Naruto pauses before looking out the window and saying, "Although who my mother is a mystery to me."

Realizing all of those facts the leader feels a little less worried, "Well I'm glad you figured that all out on your own, but it makes me wonder who else has. However, I cannot tell you who your mother is."

Laughing lightly and nodding Naruto says, "Clearly the rest of the village is too blind from their hatred to put two and two together. I mean jeez, if I figured it out when I was twelve how hard could it be?"

Sarutobi waves it off, "Well that's good to hear I expect to see you keep doing well. Don't let me down, because one day this hat will be yours if you keep it up." In a swirl of leaves the elderly leader goes home. Naruto sighs in relief feeling like he finally knows who he is for the first time in a while…

**End Chapter 8**


	9. Chapter 9

**Start Chapter 9**

_Naruto keeps making more and more progress and it astounds me. Who would have thought that the class idiot was actually a genius in disguise? Oh well I guess I'll just have to keep on teaching him and keep up my skills so he doesn't surpass me just yet. I feel like all of these missions he's running are preparing him more and more for his next challenge. Soon he'll be a Chuunin and before I know it he'll be the same rank as me._

_A Month After the Talk_

Naruto fights of Iruka successfully before landing a mean haymaker to the Jounin's face. Feeling confidence flow through him he continues the assault until Iruka lands a mean rising wind kick to his jaw. It sends the blonde straight into the air and back to reality, "Well I guess I'm not as good as I thought." Naruto says rubbing his jaw from the blow, "Maybe next time I'll get him." Getting up off the ground and patting himself off the blonde looks at Iruka, "So I heard the Chuunin Exams are coming up soon."

Iruka nods, "Yes they are what of it?"

The blonde smiles, "I don't want to enter them just yet, if you were thinking about putting me in the mix." Iruka cocks an eyebrow confused by the boy's statement, "I want a little more time to develop as a ninja before I try for that."

Looking at his student proudly the Jounin says, "Well it's good you realized that for yourself before I entered you in. Although we've run 6 C-rank missions, and two B-ranks I think another year of preparation won't hurt you." Pausing, "Honestly I don't think you could enter them anyways based off of the fact you're not on a team. I'm pretty sure the Hokage will promote you when he feels you're ready." The Jounin looks up at the sky before saying, "Say we haven't really worked on any water-jutsu chakra control exercises, why don't I show you some?" The two get to work on an exercise that requires Naruto to use his chakra to create a whirlpool in the water. Focusing on the flow of his chakra and the water the blonde Genin takes a stab at the technique.

_Later that Night_

Naruto pants heavily trying to create a decent sized whirlpool and succeeds, "Yes! I got one!" Smiling in victory he feels himself pass out from chakra exhaustion and Iruka shakes his head at his student. Picking up the unconscious boy he takes Naruto back to his apartment complex.

_The Next Day_

Cracking his eyes open Naruto feels the strain he put on his body yesterday coursing in his muscles as he gets up and out of bed, "I really need to learn some limits, this can't be good for me." Rubbing his head he prepares for the day ahead.

_At the Training Ground Later that Day_

Naruto thinks for a second before moving the shougi piece and saying, "Checkmate." Iruka looks in surprise as he sees the blonde is right, "So are we doing a mission tomorrow?"

Shaking out the shock the Jounin nods, "Yes we're going to do a document delivery to the Sand Village. It has to do with the Chuunin Exam, so it's very important and counts as an A-rank mission." Naruto smiles feeling proud of himself, "Don't let that blow up your head this isn't any harder than a C-rank mission, the only thing that brings the grade up is the importance." The blonde Genin nods and they leave the area as the sun sets for the day.

_Somewhere in Wind Country Several Days Later_

Naruto and Iruka trudge through the desert and see a large canyon a mile or so ahead smiling the Jounin says, "Here we are the Hidden Village of the Sand." The two pick up their pace before eventually reaching the check in point, "We're here on business related to the upcoming Chuunin Exams." Iruka hands the Sand ninja a scroll containing their credentials and the Chuunin waves them in, "Thank you."

As the pair traverses through the canyon they notice Sand ninja lining the tops looking ready to attack, "Is it just me or are they on edge?" Iruka looks up and quietly nods ushering Naruto to continue. They head into the center city and eventually make their way to a large stone dome marked with the wind kanji. Entering into the building through several more security checkpoints they come to the Kazekage's office and meet the Sand Village's military leader.

"You must be Iruka Umino and Naruto Uzumaki." The two bow and nod in respect of the leader, "Oh no need for such formality, now do you have the documents I requested?" Iruka nods and procures the scrolls from his hip pouch handing them to the leader, "Very good, I will make sure to send the Hokage my regards. You can go now."

Naruto and Iruka bow one last time before heading out into the city. For some reason the blonde Genin feels a tug inside his head and hears a deep gravely growl. He looks around and sees a redheaded boy with a gourd on his back and they make eye contact. The growl grows louder before the redhead disappears in a swirl of sand. Naruto brushes it off as a weird occurrence as the pair leaves the village and heads back home.

_That Night in Naruto's Subconscious_

Naruto wakes up in a sewer of sorts and begins heading towards a room not necessarily by choice. He feels a foul aura radiating from it and he steps in to what seems to be an ornate prison cell. A pair of blood red eyes stares down at him, "I'm glad you could make it down here runt."

Putting two and two together the blonde says, "You must be the nine-tailed fox if I'm not mistaken?" The beast laughs and nods in acknowledgement, "What have you brought me in here for?"  
"To talk and warn you." Naruto looks at the creature confused, "That redhead you saw was no ordinary boy, he was the container for the one-tailed demon." The blonde Genin looks shocked at the news, "I was growling at him because I was warning the one-tails to remember its place in the order. If I'm not mistaken he was what you humans call a Genin and if I had to guess he's going to be at the Chuunin Exams."

Naruto feels concerned at the demon's knowledge, "How do you know all of this?"

The beast laughs, "I can see all of your thoughts, not to worry I can't influence any of them unless you use my chakra." Naruto sighs in relief and the nine-tails smiles deviously before saying, "If your life is in danger and you can't go on I will lend you my chakra, but only if you want it or truly need it. Now I believe your mentor is trying to wake you up."

Naruto feels himself being sucked back into reality, "Naruto it's time to go." The brown-haired man says and the blonde gets up slowly before getting ready to go home.

_Back at the Leaf Village_

Iruka and Naruto stand in the Hokage's office at ease waiting for the elderly leader to speak, "Good job you two, you will be compensated properly." Handing a wad of cash to the two he lets Iruka distribute it, "Now is there anything else I can help you with?"

Recalling earlier events Naruto says, "Two things actually Lord Hokage." Naruto clears his throat as the Hokage motions for him to continue, "Last night the fox dragged me into my subconscious to talk. It said it thinks the one-tailed container is coming for the Chuunin exams. Is there any reason to be concerned about this?"

The Hokage sighs, "I knew this would happen sooner or later." Lighting his pipe and taking a drag he continues, "The fox has a point, but we have counter measures in place in case the one-tails gets loose somehow." Sarutobi smiles before saying, "Now what was the second thing?"

"We noticed that the Sand Village ninja seemed on edge for some reason when we came in. I don't know if that's of concern, but I just got an eerie feeling the whole journey through the canyon." Naruto says and the Hokage nods before making a hand seal.

Sarutobi takes another drag from his pipe, "I've silenced this room to outside of the three of us because the last thing we need is prying ears. Naruto and Iruka I'm about to tell you something that must be kept a secret for now at least. The Sound and Sand Village are going to attack us during the Chuunin Exams. We are already putting in counter measures to minimize the damage." Iruka and Naruto looks shocked, "Normally we would attack first, but I heard Orochimaru is heading the assault and I want to finish what I couldn't all those years ago. It's not only personal, but also for the safety of the village and the ninja nations." Looking out the window the Hokage sighs, "Now I assume there won't be a word from either of you until I release this information to the village?"  
The two nod and the leader makes a hand seal before dismissing them to leave his office. Naruto looks at Iruka and the two know exactly what's on each other's mind.

_At the Secret Spot the Next Day_

Naruto and Iruka trade blows at a high pace. The Jounin feels the need to step up his game as the blonde's strikes become harder to block. Naruto notices this increase in intensity and only pushes harder. Eventually the blonde's efforts become labored and a mean spinning kick from the Jounin catches him. He falls hard backwards and sighs as he looks up at the sky, "You're getting a lot better Naruto, and it may be time to up your weight." The Genin nods and accepts a helping hand from the brown-haired man to get up. Clicking in a new piece of resistance Naruto feels a noticeable increase in drag as they continue sparring for a little while. As time goes on Naruto feels the weight get to him and he can't go on. Iruka lands one last blow before saying, "Alright I think that's enough taijutsu for today, let's work on that whirlpool exercise again." Naruto smiles and they head over to the base of the waterfall before the blonde gets to work on the exercise.

Chakra exhaustion begins to set into Naruto and he finally creates a large whirlpool on his last try. This time he doesn't pass out, but nearly does, "Well at least I didn't get knocked out." He says chuckling dryly before plopping onto the ground from his tiredness, "Iruka, I think I'm ready to call it a day."

The Jounin shakes his head, "Let's do one more round of sparring, but this time we're going to go all out. You have to be able to push past the pain barrier if you want to be able to get to the next level." Naruto nods in understand before getting up and bracing himself for battle.

The two make the sign of the ninja before backing up from each other and going to work. Throwing several shuriken the Genin attempts to distract the Jounin from his sweep kick. Not letting it faze him, Iruka dodges the projectiles and the low blow. He counters with a knee to Naruto's face and the blonde flies backwards before making a replacement with a log. Charging at the Jounin head on Iruka hits the log full force before Naruto comes from behind with a drop kick that the man catches with relative ease. He redirects the blonde's weight and sends Naruto towards a tree; sticking to the wood with chakra Naruto makes hand seals for a wind bullet jutsu. Iruka sees this and jumps out of the way of the invisible projectile. Clicking his teeth Naruto grabs a kunai before turning around to meet his mentor's blade. Grinding iron against iron Naruto channels wind chakra into his weapon cutting through the metallic blade of his opponent. The tail end of the energy cuts Iruka's face on his cheek and Naruto smirks, "I'm getting closer." Iruka shakes his head before coming directly at Naruto before sliding in between his legs and throwing shuriken at the boy. Naruto quickly jumps off of the bark onto the ground meeting Iruka's foot with his forearm. Making hand seals for an illusion Naruto feels himself grow drowsy before he releases the illusionary technique. However, it's too late as Iruka's fist impacts with his cheek.

Standing over his opponent Iruka says, "Yield." Sticking knife at Naruto's throat and he feels cold iron press against his throat.

"No you yield." Iruka slacks his shoulders as the blonde under him turns into a log, "How did I do?"

Smiling at his student, "You passed… Almost." The Iruka before Naruto puffs into smoke and Naruto sighs as he feels the cold iron press against this neck, "Now you yield."

The blonde smiles before saying, "I yield." They turn and face each other before making the sign of ninja acknowledging each other's skills, "I was so close."

Iruka nods and smiles softly at his student's disappointment, "It comes with time Naruto, it'll be years before you can get me." They share a chuckle before deciding to call it a day.

_A Week Later On an Escort Mission in Wood Country_

Naruto notices a puddle of water on the road and recalls it hasn't rained in weeks he looks at his mentor nodding. He stomps hard on the puddle and a missing ninja from the Hidden Mist Village pops out knocked out from the impact. Making several hand seals he ensnares the criminal in tripwire. Once the ninja wakes up he asks, "Who sent you to kill this man?" He points to Oku, the man they were told to protect on the escort mission.

The missing ninja looks at the blonde with defiant eyes before saying, "Fuck off Leaf scum." Naruto punches the guy in the face and continues the process until the guy says wearily, "I give, and I give!" Pausing and taking a deep breath he continues, "It's a man named Gomi! He said this guy was giving him problems by not obeying food price laws he had set in the Oak Village. He jacked them way up so people couldn't buy food, but since he has me and three other low-level missing ninja nobody will fight back." He looks up at the Genin, "The other ninja aren't any better than me. That's all I know I swear!"

His black eyes are pleading and Naruto nods before drawing a ninja-to and slicing his head off. Sealing it away and burning the remains he places the scroll back on his belt before turning to see Oku staring at him in shock, "Iruka let's continue the mission, if he's telling the truth which I'm pretty sure he was, we'll be fine." The Jounin nods and they wait for Oku to collect himself before continuing their trek towards the Wood Village.

_Later that Night_

Naruto and Iruka are doing some reconnaissance outside of the village gates and see three ninja at different positions around the town, "You want to take the two at the north and west point? I'll take the one at the eastern side. We'll regroup around the compound where Gomi resides." Iruka nods and the two begin stealthy making their ways to their targets. Naruto conceals his chakra signature down to barely anything before edging towards the missing Stone Village ninja. Drawing a kunai he gets up behind the unaware criminal and covers his mouth as he slits the throat of the scumbag.

Looking around he sees Iruka taking out the first of his targets and making his way to the second. The missing Leaf ninja looks around to see his fellow guards missing and sounds an alarm. Iruka curses silently before throwing several kunai at a once former ally. They pierce the body that turns into a log the Jounin spins around to meet a kunai coming down on his skull with his own blade. Making some one-handed seals he draws from a nearby water source a solid blade of water that pierces the traitor in the heart. The man falls to the ground with a quiet thud and the brown-haired man disposes of the body properly. He joins back with Naruto and says, "Let's finish this." They look at each other before bounding across the rooftops to the compound that Gomi resides in. Approaching it they see the man holding what appears to be his wife with a knife to her throat. The pair acts quickly and Naruto aims a kunai, which he launches right into the man's skulls. His body slumps down and his wife runs at them scared to death thanking them, "It was no problem, we were just doing our job." Wiping the tears from her face the woman promises to make things right in the small town.

Naruto and Iruka start to make their way out of the building before coming into a crowd of happy looking people. Walking through it they get handshakes and offerings of gifts that they respectfully decline. They see Oku and say farewell before heading into the night for home…

**End Chapter 9**


	10. Chapter 10

**Start Chapter 10**

_Well what could have been a huge disaster turned out to be nothing more than a small bump in the road. Naruto handled it extremely well and the Hokage couldn't help, but feel proud of him. For now we can take a break, but we still have a lot of work to do if we want to be ready for the impending attack. Hopefully Naruto is able to handle this Gaara character because I have a feeling they will meet in battle._

_At the Mission Hall_

The Third Hokage looks at Naruto and Iruka before saying, "No missions for you two until the end of the Chuunin Exams. I want you to train, so you're ready in case any trouble arises." Naruto sighs feeling slightly let down, but knows it necessary. Waving them off the two leave the mission hall for the training ground.

Walking through the city the two notice an increased presence of ninja on the rooftops, "I guess this Chuunin Exam is going to be a big deal."

Iruka nods at his student, "Yeah, it should be a sight to see when the finals come up. It's always a huge ordeal with all the dignitaries and other ninja spectators. Maybe you'll see some of your old classmates at it?" Naruto shrugs his shoulders as they approach the base of the training ground.

Lost in thought the blonde walks right into a black-garbed ninja with purple war paint on his face. Naruto realizes his blunder and says, "Sorry about that I should've been paying close attention." He looks to see a blonde girl with a fan strapped across her back and the same redhead from the Sand Village, "You guys must be here for the Chuunin Exam right?" They nod and Naruto continues, "Well good luck." The trio nods and the two groups continue on their ways to their destinations. Once Naruto and Iruka reach the training ground the blonde Genin asks, "So what's today's special? Sparring, chakra control, maybe a little Shougi?"  
The Jounin shakes his head, "No ninjutsu, specifically water-styles and fire-styles." Iruka continues, "I'm going to try and teach you one of each for the next few days, in addition to regular training. First up we're going to a defensive technique for water style, it's called Water-Style: Water Wall." Naruto and Iruka go over the basics of the jutsu before heading over to the waterfall for a practical demonstration, "Now I'm going to do it, watch closely." The brown-haired man slowly makes the hand seals before calling out, "Water-Style: Water Wall Jutsu!" A decent sized barrier of water encircles the Jounin and after a few seconds it falls down, "Now give it a try."

The blonde sighs and walks atop the water before making the hand seals slowly and gathering his chakra, "Water-Style: Water Wall Jutsu!" On his first try he manages to get the water to come up to about ankle level at different areas around him, "Not too bad, but at least part of my ankles will be safe." Chuckling dryly he gets back to work on practicing the technique. As time goes on he is able to get the water to encircle him completely and rise up above his head, "Is there any way to thicken the wall so things can't pass through it?"

Iruka nods, "Yes and no, it's no entirely impenetrable, but you can make it stronger by increasing the thickness of the circle by drawing on more water. You kind of have to picture it in your head while adding more chakra at first, and then it will become second nature." Naruto looks at his mentor before taking another stab at the jutsu this time trying to add some thickness to it. After a while, Iruka says, "I think that's enough for today as far as that goes, let's work on that fire ninjutsu. It's called Fire-Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu. It was known as a signature jutsu of the Uchiha Clan while they were still around. However, eventually it slipped out into the mainstream." Making hand seals and taking a deep breath Iruka creates a large ball of flames from his mouth that happens over the water, "Now I want you to practice it like this, and remember it's just like that sparks jutsu I showed you as far as breathing goes."

They go over the technique and Naruto gives it a go screaming in his head, "Fire-Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!" Blowing out a small kickball sized sphere of flames Naruto feels like that's a good start, "Well I can't wait until the burns finally set it." Laughing it off he goes back to practicing the new ninjutsu for a little while. Eventually the blonde Genin gets that jutsu down pat and they move onto some combat training like last time.

_That Night_

Naruto gargles cold water in his throat before swallowing it to ease his singed esophagus. Looking in his bathroom mirror the blonde notices his lips are still slightly red and he sighs, "Fire ninjutsu are a fucking bitch to practice. Hopefully I can get them down quickly as that one today." Wiping off his mouth he heads to his room and pulls out a book on ninja history. Turning to the chapter he left off on the Genin sees a picture of the Fourth Hokage and looks a little sad, "Am I making you proud dad?" He takes a look out of the window to the full moon before turning the page and starting to read for a little while.

_A Month or so Later_

The blonde Genin stands in front of the Chuunin stadium with his Jounin mentor looking confident, "Well today's the big day." They nod at each other knowing what's really meant by that and head into the stadium making their way to spectator seating.

Approaching their seats they see some of Iruka's fellow Jounin ready to watch their students in action. Naruto recognizes one of them as Kakashi Hatake, a student of his father's, but decides to stay quiet. The pair sits down and as the opening ceremony ends they see Neji Hyuuga and a Sound Genin ready to square off. Once they've been given the signal to go Neji immediately settles into a Hyuuga specific stance before saying, "You're in range of my divination… Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palms." The Hyuuga takes a breath as the Sound Genin is paralyzed where he stands. Neji begins showering him with finger taps that seal off his chakra points. Naruto watches in amazement and sees the Sound Genin spit up blood before passing out.

The proctor checks the Sound contestant before saying, "Neji Hyuuga is the winner!" The crowd roars and the genius walks off as his opponent is carried off in a stretcher, "Now for Kankuro and Shino." The dark robed boy from the other week calls out a forfeit and the proctor nods, "Alright then, will Gaara of the Sand and Sasuke Uchiha please step into the arena." Naruto's old rival steps into the battle ground in black clothing and lined up from him is the one-tail's container, "Alright you know the rules, begin!"

Sasuke quickly throws several kunai, but a wall of sand stops the projectiles defending Gaara. In the blink of an eye Sasuke launches towards the Sand Genin trying to engage him with taijutsu. However, Gaara doesn't even bat an eye as his ultimate defense protects him automatically. Jumping back Sasuke makes several hand seals that Naruto recognizes, "Fire-Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Multiple balls of fire launch at the redhead and sand erupts from his gourd to stop it, but the shuriken hidden in the flames nearly make contact. Gaara grows impatient and soon a ball of sand begins encasing him; Sasuke sees this and makes his way towards his opponent. He hits a spinning kick that is stopped cold by an iron like barrier spikes of sand erupt from it and one of them manages to graze Sasuke. Clicking his teeth he back flips to the wall and goes up about midway before making a series of hand seals. A loud chirping sound echoes through the arena as a ball of what appears to be lightning forms in his hand, "Chidori!" He cries out and he jets towards the ball of sand leaving destruction in his wake. With his Sharingan blazing his jab of lightning pierces the dome and a shriek of pain erupts from within. The ball of hard sand falls and a different, almost demonic-looking Gaara comes out panting. Blood pours from his shoulder that he clutches before something happens.

Naruto feels tired suddenly and recognizes this as a genjutsu, "Release!" He says and the feeling of drowsiness disappears. Looking up to the Hokage box he sees the Third and the Kazekage staring each other down from within a purple barrier. The blonde clicks his teeth and looks to the wall to see Gaara and his two siblings on top before jumping down into the forest. Deciding to chase them while they're weak Naruto heads out into the forest from the nearest entrance. He channels a little chakra to his nose to enhance his sense of smell to pick up on blood. Catching a large whiff of it moving further away he heads in that general direction.

_A Little While Later in the Heart of the Forest_

The blonde Genin catches up to the Sand Trio before quietly speeding up and knocking out Gaara's siblings from behind. The redhead jumps to a nearby branch before turning around, "You, I've seen you before."

Naruto smiles, "Good to see you have a decent memory, let's cut to the chase shall we?" Drawing a kunai Naruto prepares to engage the one-tailed container. Jetting towards the Sand ninja he aims several blows that are easily blocked by the ultimate defense. It goes to grab him, but the blonde is able to get away. Settling back on a branch and thinking quickly Naruto decides to make things a little easier on himself, "I feel heavy, maybe I should lose some weight." Clicking the weights under his black top and pants he lets them drop to the ground. They make a memorable impact as they create craters in the earth under them, "Now I can move freely!" In a blur Naruto hits Gaara with a spinning kick to the head before landing a haymaker that sends the redhead careening back into a tree.

His body makes a resounding thump and he realizes his sand cannot keep up with the blonde's insane speed. Knowing that he's wounded and outclassed he decides to do what he came here for, "Shukaku I need you!"

Naruto looks over and is soon engulfed in a cloud of smoke before backing out of it. He sees a large shadow within in it and knows that Gaara has let out the beast within him, "Oh shit, I have nothing to defend against him." A rumble from within tells him otherwise, "Nine-tails I may need some of your chakra if we're going to live." The beast says fine and begins trickling some chakra into Naruto's system, "I need to wake him up somehow if he's used that forced sleep technique Iruka was talking about." Feeling the great rush of energy Naruto capitalizes on the opportunity before him and makes his way up the side of the demon. Keeping away from the sand attacking him and trying to move faster than it can make him sink he arrives at the summit atop the one-tail's head. Seeing Gaara atop of it clearly unconscious he jets towards the red head avoiding the sand coming at him. He head-butts Gaara hard drawing blood and the beast stops before crumbling beneath them. Naruto realizes what's going on and grabs Gaara while the beast still has a form to make his way down safely. With not a second to spare Naruto reaches a treetop before the entire creature collapses into a pile of sand. Breathing a sigh of relief Naruto makes his way down laying Gaara with his siblings, "You rest here and if you ever even get the notion of trying to attack the leaf village remember the name Naruto Uzumaki." Gaara nods weakly out of fear and Naruto turns around to see the village seemingly at peace.

_Near the Gates of the Leaf Village_

Naruto is making his way back and once he's at the gates he sees the Hokage Mountain. A crack is running along the nose of the Third Hokage, "Oh no… Old Man Hokage!" Going into an all out sprint to the Chuunin stadium Naruto sees a crowd gathered at the rooftop, "No!" He joins to crowd and makes his way to the front to see the elderly leader pale, but with a contented smile on his face. A figure that looks a lot like Orochimaru lays next to him clearly also stripped of his life, but with a shocked expression. Something hits Naruto hard in his heart as he sees the student and teacher pair laying side by side in death. Naruto looks up at Iruka who has joined the crowd of ninja, "The Old Man wanted to die here with Orochimaru didn't he?" Iruka nods solemnly, "I stopped Gaara from reaching the village in his fully released form, and I don't think he's coming back anytime soon."

Looking at his student in surprise the Jounin says, "You were the one that stopped the Shukaku?"

Naruto feels confused, "Um, yeah and I managed to knock out his siblings too why?"

Iruka sighs, "Kakashi sent Sasuke and Sakura after him with a few others and they haven't returned yet." Looking over he sees the group returning without a scratch, "Never mind they're back safe and sound, so we can rest easy for the time being. Naruto I want you to take a few days off, I think we'll both need it to deal with our feelings." Looking at the Hokage they share a collective moment of silence with the other ninja present.

_After the Funeral_

Naruto is leaving the area of the funeral as he is approached by a large man he recognizes as, "Jiraiya of the Sannin, I'm guessing you're here to pay your respects as well?"

The large Toad Sage nods, "Yes, but I also come bearing news. You're being summoned by the council for a meeting." Naruto nods in understanding before heading towards the Hokage building.

_Inside of the Hokage's Office_

Naruto stays seated in a comfortable chair as he listens to the councilwoman's words, "You are being promoted to Chuunin for your actions during the invasion. We saw the report and your file and we are fully convinced that you are worthy of this new rank." Pausing she motions for Naruto to get up and the blonde kneels with his head bowed, "Naruto Uzumaki do you accept the rank of Chuunin as a ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village and the responsibilities that come with this title?"

The blonde smiles, "I do accept the rank."

Looking down at the now Chuunin the Councilwoman says, "Then I hereby pronounce you Naruto Uzumaki as a Chuunin of the Hidden Leaf Village." Pausing for a second to think she continues, "We expect great things from you Naruto, show us what you're capable of. You can leave now."

Naruto gets up and bows before taking his exit through the door. He sees Iruka standing there smiling in pride, "Good job Naruto, how about some Ichiraku to celebrate?" Naruto glows at that idea and the two head towards the eatery for a celebratory meal…

**End Chapter 10 and The Course to Chuunin Arc**


	11. Chapter 11

**Start Chapter 11 and The Journey to Jounin Arc**

_Well Naruto's a Chuunin now. I guess he's one step closer to his ultimate goal. I better train harder if I don't want him to surpass me just yet. Granted, he still has a long road ahead of him, but I'm sure in the end his face will be on that mountain one day._

_At Naruto's Apartment that Night_

The blonde looks at his new Chuunin flak vest in amazement, "I can't believe I got promoted. I mean I faced a tailed-demon, but in all honesty it wasn't that hard considering all I had to do was wake Gaara up." Shrugging his shoulders Naruto files it away for later, "I guess I better hit the hay if I want to get a head start on training tomorrow." Turning out the light on his nightstand Naruto crawls into bed to get some rest for a hard day ahead of him tomorrow.

_At the Training Ground the Next Day_

Naruto dodges another blow from Iruka as they are locked in combat training. He tries to counter the move, but gets countered out of that. The force of the punch sends him back into the air, but he quickly regains his composure and back flips away. He grabs three shuriken from his hip pouch before throwing them and making hand seals, "Ninja-Art: Shuriken Multiplication Jutsu!" The three shuriken quickly divide into a cloud of them and Iruka is forced to use a replacement jutsu. He makes it in the nick of time and the hail of iron projectiles impales a log. Breathing a sigh of relief in cover he feels cold iron press against his neck and he sighs as Naruto says, "Yield."  
Iruka looks up bewildered before saying "I yield." The blade is drawn away from his neck and the two meet in the open, "I guess you are really improving then, huh?"

Naruto smiles before scratching the back of his head, "Yeah, but I still have a long way to go before I can take you down consistently." Iruka smiles at his student's humble attitude and motions for him to come again.

_Later that Day at the Waterfall_

"Naruto I'm going to have someone else teach you some wind-style ninjutsu since I don't know anything about them beyond the basics." A Jounin comes out into the clearing, "This is Asuma Sarutobi and he will be teaching you some more advanced ninjutsu."

The gruff looking Jounin takes a puff from his cigarette before blowing a cloud of smoke, "The first thing I'm going to teach you is the Wind-Style: Grand Air Bullet Jutsu." Making several hand seal before quickly spinning around an invisible object collides with a tree and for a second nothing happens. Until the tree explodes into a million pieces, "Now this is how it's done…" Asuma takes over for Iruka and Naruto attempts the technique several times before getting it down proficiently, "Well I'm impressed, so I'll teach you one more before I have to go. It's called Wind-Style: Wind Blade Jutsu." Making a couple of hand seals and pressing his hand against a giant tree a small blade sized slit is bored into the tree, "You can imagine how that would feel piercing through you. It can also be used a lot like chakra scalpels as well if you get good enough at it." Once again Asuma goes over the technique, but this time Naruto has a little less success, "Don't worry about it this jutsu is going to take a while to master. I have to go now, it was nice seeing you Iruka." In a swirl of leaves the Jounin exits the area.

Iruka claps his hands and says, "I think that's enough for today. Let's reconvene tomorrow at the same time. Missions start back up two days from now, so we'll go in for one then." Naruto nods and the two leave the area in a collective puff of smoke.

_Several Days Later at the Mission Hall_

"Naruto and Iruka you will be carrying out an A-ranked search and rescue mission in Wind Country. One of the Fire Country nobles has gone missing there and we suspect it to be the work of some rogue Sand Ninja. This mission will be very difficult and will require at least two weeks to complete. Do you accept it?" Naruto looks at Iruka who nods at the Councilman, "Good, now go and prepare for your mission. Time is of the essence here." Iruka and Naruto bow before taking their leave.

_On the Road to Wind Country_

Naruto looks over the mission scroll before closing it and saying, "So the last place this noble was seen was near the Cactus Village on the border of Fire and Wind country? I guess we better investigate that and look for clues." Iruka nods in agreement with the plan and the two head towards Cactus Village.

_Just Outside of Cactus Village_

The blonde Chuunin looks at the wreckage of a caravan that looks like it was that of someone with money, "Alright, I guess this is it. Let's start digging around." Iruka says and the two separate before looking around the crime scene for clues.

Naruto quickly spots a piece of paper that is held to a wagon by a kunai, "Hey I think I found something!" He scans the document and reads, "It says 'If anyone finds this we want 10 million Ryo for the noble. If you want to make an exchange we will be at Scraggy Canyon ten miles southwest of this location. Bring the money an we will return him safely without a scratch." Handing the note to Iruka the blonde says, "I think we should make a plan of how we're going to do this. I figure these guys are pretty strong considering they took out a team of Chuunin. Maybe we should call for back up?"

Iruka nods in agreement, "Yes, I'll send a note to the Council with a courier hawk. If they can get us back up we'll continue, but if they can't we're going to do some reconnaissance and decide from there." Scribbling a note on a small scroll Iruka bites his thumb and pulls out another larger scroll before a hawk appears. Tucking the note on its claw Iruka reseals it and the avian creature disappears in a puff of smoke, "Alright it'll be a few hours before they get back to us. So let's make camp for the night." The two ninja walk to a nearby cave before setting up camp until the courier hawk swoops in, "Well it looks like we've got back-up coming in a day or two. Let's rest here for the next few days and then we'll make a strategy from there."

_Several Days Later_

A team of four Leaf Chuunin comes into sight and Naruto calls for Iruka. Once they get to the duo they exchange greetings before getting down to business, "Alright, these guys were able to take out a team of Chuunin, so obviously they are skilled. We don't know their numbers yet, so we're going to do some scouting before we come up with a plan of attack. Are you guys ready to travel right now?" The team nods and the brown-haired man says, "Okay then, let's get moving."

_Outside of Scraggy Canyon_

The team of six looks over the campsite of the rouge wind ninja and start coming up with a plan, "Alright we could have two of us try to take out the two guards at either entrance quietly. The other two of us will engage the ones on the top of the canyon. Iruka and Naruto we'll need you take out the leader as quickly as possible, so he can't put the noble in harm's way." The Chuunin leader says, "There might be a couple other ones in there that we'll engage after we've taken care of our targets." Pausing to think, "If something goes wrong, just use your microphones. Our code word is 'fan'. However, if everything goes right and you are able to neutralize your target without a hitch the code word is 'flame'. Is everyone clear?" The group nods and they wait for nightfall to start making their move.

_Around 3 AM_

Naruto and Iruka quietly sneak up on the leader before he turns around drawing a kunai, "I guess we have some Leaf ninja to deal with." Four voices quickly come in saying 'flame' Iruka nods at Naruto and the two go at the leader. Naruto throws three kunai and Iruka waits before phasing out of sight while the missing ninja dodges the projectiles. Iruka brings a kunai down on the enemy's skull and a log replaces the bad guy. Naruto quickly finds him heading towards the noble and responds by throwing five shuriken. Speedily making hand seals the five shuriken become a cloud of them and the missing ninja is blindsided by them. The hail of weapons sinks into his body and he falls like a sack of bricks. Naruto approaches the man cautiously and sees him bleeding out, "You lose leaf scum." Opening his vest he shows his body covered in explosive tags Naruto quickly grabs the noble and body flickers out in the nick of time. The large explosion engulfs the camp.

The ninja regroup at the entrance of the canyon, "Good job team." Iruka says and they begin the long trek home.

_At the Mission Hall a Week Later_

Naruto and Iruka plus the four Chuunin stand before the councilman after a successful mission, "Well good job, you will not only receive compensation for the mission, but the bounties on the ninja you terminated." Handing out six separate wads of cash, "You are dismissed." The teams say their goodbyes before going their separate ways.

Once Iruka and Naruto are out of the building the Jounin says, "Alright, take the rest of the day off. Tomorrow we resume training."

_At Naruto's Apartment_

After a nice hot shower and a home-cooked meal Naruto relaxes on his couch reading a book on wind-ninjutsu. A knock at his door pulls him away from his reading and the blonde Chuunin goes to answer the door. Opening it up he sees, "Jiraiya of the Sannin, what brings you here?"

Jiraiya looks confused, "So you know who I am?"

Naruto smiles politely, "Um, yeah you're in a lot of history books and I read a couple of your books on sealing. I liked the advanced sealing theory one the best, it actually was the easiest to read and provided a lot of good tips." Shaking out his fan-side Naruto shifts to his business one, "So enough of that what brings you here? I'm sure a Sannin like you has better things to do than talk to a Chuunin."

The Toad Sage says, "Well I wanted to make you an offer, I want to take you on a training trip while running a mission to get the new Hokage."

Naruto stands there awestruck before ushering him in to sit, "Can I grab you anything? Coffee, water, maybe a snack?" Jiraiya politely declines the offer of hospitality and then Naruto asks, "So does this have anything to do with paying back the Fourth Hokage?"

Jiraiya looks a little shocked at the boy's words and knowledge, "Well, actually a little bit of that and I've heard about you doing so well, so I thought you might want someone to take you to next level."

The blonde Chuunin looks Jiraiya dead in the eye coldly, "No I don't want your training, but I will help you find the next Hokage. You weren't there for me when I needed you most, but I won't decline a mission that is important for the village's continuity. I would request though that Iruka Umino comes with us since he's my teacher."

Lost for words at the boy's harsh words, "Alright, I can do that. I'm sorry for not being there for you, but I had my own issues to sort out. Plus I have a purpose in the village that doesn't let me stay here for more than few days." Walking out of the apartment in silence he stops at the door before saying, "If you change your mind and can forgive this old man I will be more than glad to help you. Be at the East Gate tomorrow at five AM sharp." In a puff of smoke the Sannin leaves Naruto to his thoughts.

_The Next Day_

Naruto, Iruka, and Jiraiya check out of the gate before heading out of the village for the next few weeks, "We're going to Tanzaku Town which is the last place Tsunade was seen. We'll investigate from there and make a plan of action to get her back." They all nod at one another before breaking into a running pace to get there quicker.

_In Tanzaku Town after a Day of Searching_

Naruto finally gets a lead on the blonde Sannin and meets up with Iruka and Jiraiya, "Apparently she's a regular at a BBQ place I found in the business district every night around 8 PM, so I guess we'll wait an hour or two before going." They nod and head back to the hotel for the time being.

_Around 8:00 PM at the BBQ Restaurant_

The trio waits in a booth across from an empty table. Several minutes pass by and a blonde-haired woman and brown-haired woman sit across from them, "I'll handle this from here on out." Jiraiya says before joining, "Tsunade and Shizune, it's good to see you again."

Tsunade looks up at her old teammate obviously a little annoyed, "What could possibly bring you here Jiraiya? Is Sarutobi-sensei trying to get me to come back again?"

Jiraiya's face turns sad, "No, he's dead. He died fighting Orochimaru in an invasion on the village. Orochimaru didn't make it out either." Tsunade takes a sip of her tea before letting it sink in that they're the only two of the team left.

The blonde Sannin sighs, "Well thanks for letting me know that, is there a reason you brought those two?" Pointing at Naruto and Iruka Jiraiya sighs.

"Well I was supposed to train the blonde one, but he refused. And he insisted that his teacher be brought with him." Tsunade looks confused at that and Jiraiya continues to talk, "We're also on a mission to find a new Hokage, you're the person we're looking for."

Tsunade laughs before saying, "Well you're wasting your time, and only a fool would take that position. And only a fool would decline training from a Sannin." She says looking over at Naruto with her hazel eyes.

Naruto sighs frustrated, "You're right only a fool would decline training from a Sannin. There's more to it than that, a lot more than you know." Pausing he furrows his brow in anger, "But only a bigger fool would disrespect their sensei who died protecting what's most precious to him! You're not worthy of becoming Hokage, if you can't put the village ahead of your petty issues…" Getting up quickly Naruto says, "Then you're worse than trash because you've turned your back on every one of your comrades!"

Tsunade jumps up and stands over the blonde Chuunin, "I don't know who you think you are kid, but I think you need a lesson in manners!" She points out the door before saying, "You, and me are settling this outside now!" Staring defiantly with his azure eyes the blonde boy follows the Sannin outside ignoring the voice inside telling him this is a bad idea. Once they're outside she says, "If you can put a scratch on me I'll come back and be Hokage. I'll even throw in this necklace." Holding up a small green crystal pendant she says, "It belonged to the First Hokage and is worth a lot of money."

Clicking his teeth the Chuunin says, "Fine, I accept and if I lose we'll never bother you again." Smirking, "You ready to get your ass kicked old lady?" Naruto says trying to get a rise out of the woman and it works judging by the twitching of her eyebrow, "Come!" Tsunade charges Naruto and the blonde slips on both of his special knuckle-buster's before channeling wind chakra into them. He waits for her to near and then takes a swipe at the woman purposely missing. However, she quickly backs away from it and feels a scratch form on her face. Touching it she feels warmth coming from it and sighs, "I guess I win our bet."

"I guess you do kid." She undoes the necklace and looks into Naruto's eyes before seeing that look on him as Dan and Nawaki. Seeing that look changes something inside of her and she feels odd. Going over to the blonde her expression softens as she says, "Wear it well kid." Placing the necklace around his neck the Sannin says, "Alright I'll keep my word, I guess I'll have to come back with you guys."

Jiraiya speaks up, "Well it's been a long day, so I guess we'll turn in for the night at our hotel. I expect to see you tomorrow at the gate leading to the Leaf." Tsunade nods and the group part ways. Once Jiraiya is next to Naruto he smacks the kid across the head, "What the hell were you thinking? You could've gotten killed or caused serious damage to the town!"

Naruto smiles, "I know, and usually my emotions don't get the better of me. But what she said about the Old Man and all those who came before him hit something I couldn't help, but react to. I'm sorry for my outburst it won't happen again." The Toad Sannin nods and the trip back to the hotel is laced with a heavy silence.

_The Next Day at the Gate to the Leaf Village_

The group joins together for the trek back home, "I'm surprised you didn't take off Tsunade." Jiraiya says smartly causing the blonde woman to sigh in annoyance, "But I'm proud of you for doing that." Whispering into her ear he says, "That kid is going to changed the world one day. I can tell you know it too." Tsunade nods and a warm breeze blows comforting them in that thought…

**End Chapter 11**


	12. Chapter 12

**Start Chapter 12**

_Well luckily Naruto's little outburst didn't destroy Tanzaku Town. Hell, it got us a new Hokage and changed her somehow in the process. Even though he's grown up a lot there are a few things that strike right in his heartstrings. That's good because he'll need that passion and drive if ever plans on becoming the Hokage_

_At the Hokage's Inauguration_

Tsunade takes off her hat to the village's people after her swearing in and the sun shines brightly on the village, "It's good to be back." Smiling she waves to the crowd as she re-enters the Hokage's building. Going into her office she sees the pile of paperwork awaiting her and cringes, "I didn't sign up for this." The new Hokage cries inwardly and gets to work.

_Meanwhile Outside in the Crowd_

Naruto stands by Iruka in the crowd as the new Hokage goes inside and smiles at the odd feeling, "I think the Leaf Village has a bright future ahead of it." The blonde says to the brown-haired Jounin and the man nods, "Come on, let's go train." Turning around Naruto sees a face he hasn't missed, "Sasuke, it's good to see you're doing well." The Uchiha is joined by Kakashi Hatake, Sakura, and a kid Naruto recognizes from his class but can't remember his name, "How's everything been for you?"

The Uchiha grunts and Kakashi smiles, "We've been doing fine Naruto, I see you got a few new ranks since I last saw you."

Smiling nervously the blonde says, "Yeah, I made it to Chuunin after the exams for doing some things."

Sasuke speaks up, "Oh what did you do that made you so special?" His tone is hostile and Kakashi takes note of this bracing himself.

Naruto tries to put it humbly by saying, "I stopped Gaara of the Sand from doing more damage to the village than was already done."

Kakashi nods in amazement before saying, "Well it's been nice talking to you Naruto, Iruka. We need to do some training."

The group parts ways and once they're out of earshot Naruto says, "Well that was awkward." Iruka nods and the two continue the journey to their secret training spot.

_At the Training Spot Later that Day_

Naruto makes the hand seals for the Water Style: Ripping Tide Jutsu and draws upon the water underneath him. The liquid turns into high-pressure blades that lash out in front of him slicing into a nearby log turning it into bits. Smiling at his success the blonde Chuunin looks to his teacher who nods in approval, "Good job Naruto, that's all for today." Iruka leaves in a puff of smoke, but Naruto stays behind to work on some chakra control. Walking on the water to the waterfall Naruto stands under the frigid rapids feeling it crash down on him. He raises his hands up and channels wind chakra through it.

The crashing falls quickly split into two separate sections and Naruto feels like he's pretty much mastered it, "Well I don't know anymore exercises… I guess I'll just work on some accuracy." Moving over to the target range the blonde pulls out some projectiles and starts firing away. Sighing in frustration as he notices they all hit the bull's eye the Chuunin collects his weapons, "Is there anything I haven't gotten down pat as far as basics go? Well taijutsu speed can always be made better I guess." Heading to the taijutsu log Naruto begins beating on the wooden post until he loses sense of time. It takes several hours for him to tire and then he finally drops in exhaustion, "Well I guess that's enough for today." The blonde picks himself up slowly before struggling to make it home.

_The Next Day Training_

Naruto beats Iruka for the sixth time in a row in Shougi and gets up before yelling obscenities, "What's wrong Naruto? You're never this frustrated."

The blonde collects himself before sighing and saying, "I don't know I just feel like I've gotten all the basics down and there's nothing left for me to really work on. I mean I can maintain what I have, but improving myself is just getting aggravating."

Iruka pats the Chuunin on the shoulder comfortingly, "Naruto every ninja hits a plateau point. It's about finding different ways to make your training harder. You've been doing the same thing for a while right?" Naruto nods, "Well maybe instead of beating on a log you could create Shadow Clones to fight, or use clones to be moving targets, and there are many other possibilities. You just need to think a little further into it." Patting Naruto's shoulder again Iruka lets the blonde cool off for a bit before getting back to a game of shougi.

_That Night_

Forming a cross handed seal Naruto creates several shadow clones and begins to practice his taijutsu against them. As they slowly disappear he creates more to take the vanished one's place. Soon through this process he feels the wear on his body and eventually has to dismiss his Shadow Clones. On his hands and knees panting with sweat pouring off his head Naruto feels accomplished. Slowly getting up he staggers home in pain from the first truly intense training session in a while.

_In the Mission Hall Two Days Later_

Naruto looks over the mission scroll handed to him by Tsunade and nods, "Now since we need this person alive for interrogation it will be considered a failure if you kill him understand?" Bowing before the Hokage Naruto and Iruka head out to prepare at their apartments for one of their most difficult missions yet.

_Several Nights Later in Water Country_

Naruto and Iruka stare at their target sitting alone by a campfire. Something is off though and they both release the illusion that's been put on them. Turning around they meet the sword of the ninja with their kunai and manage to out muscle him. He flies backwards and the sword does as well. By some stroke of luck it pierces him in the shoulder against a tree. Shaking their heads they release the second illusion placed on them and Naruto meets the ninja's blade with his wind chakra-charged knuckle-busters and they slice through it. Clicking his teeth the ninja quickly makes hand seals before yelling, "Fire-Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!" A blazing inferno engulfs Naruto and Iruka and the ninja stands there smugly until he feels his world go black.

"Cocky motherfucker." Naruto says before ensnaring the ninja with ninja wire and a seal to keep him asleep and another to keep his chakra system suppressed, "I was getting real tired of his illusions." Hoisting him over his shoulder Naruto takes the first turn carrying him back.

Iruka smiles oddly, "Well it said he was known for using illusions, so I guess that should have told you something."

Naruto sees something is off and re-draws his knuckle-buster before releasing the illusion put on him, "Okay where are you really?" Scanning the area with his chakra senses he finds two chakra sources moving and heads towards them. As Naruto approaches the location of the signals he slows down to observe what's going on. The blonde Chuunin looks through the brush to see Iruka on his knee tired out from fighting off the other ninja. Without hesitation Naruto draws his knuckle busters and intercepts what would have been a killing blow to his teacher. Hitting a mean uppercut to the rouge ninja the Chuunin knocks him out, "Now let's bag him." Turning around to face his mentor Naruto extends a hand, which the Jounin takes and they tie up the ninja before sealing his strength away this time for good.

_In the Hokage's Office After Dropping Off the Target into Custody_

Tsunade smiles at the two clearly beat up and tired from their mission, "Great work you two, you brought him back in one piece." The duo nods sleepily as she hands them their reward, "Go take the next few days off you've earned it." Iruka and Naruto bow in respect before leaving the office.

Iruka rubs his tired eyes, "Take the next day off and get some rest. You're going to thank me later." Naruto nods and the two go home.

_At Naruto's Apartment_

The blonde Chuunin lets the hot water run down his neck as he just stands there aching after that long mission. Tension slowly works its way out of his muscles and he sighs before shutting off the water. He dries off and steps out before looking at himself in the mirror leaning on the sink, "You're going to make it through Naruto, just keep pushing and one day your face will be on that mountain." Shaking out the thoughts Naruto heads into his room and prepares for bed. Climbing under his sheets he can't wait for a day off tomorrow, "Maybe I'll buy some new supplies…" Slowly the blonde drifts off to sleep.

_At the Supply Shop the Next Day_

Naruto is checking out from the shop after a successful hunt for weapons, clothes, and sealing materials. He hands the cashier the money and exits the place, but not before sealing away the goods into a scroll, "Well I guess some Ichiraku for lunch wouldn't hurt?" Heading towards the eatery Naruto enters through the flaps and says, "Hey Old Man, I need a couple bowls of Miso Soup!" He takes a seat and the old man turns around.

The middle-aged shop owner smiles at one of his favorite customers, "Naruto, I'll have that right up for you!" Going into the kitchen he leaves Naruto on his own for a bit before he comes out with two bowls of hot miso ramen, "Here you go bud!" Breaking his chopsticks Naruto digs into something he hasn't had in a long time, "You haven't been here in a while Naruto, I miss you being around all the time."

Pausing to swallow the blonde Chuunin says, "Well I've been real busy between training and missions, I barely have any days off where I can come enjoy my favorite kind of ramen."

Old Man Ichiraku waves it off, "Bah, that's fine we've all got to make a living somehow. I just do it selling ramen." Smiling softly the man says, "It looks like you've grown a little."

Naruto smiles, "Yeah I'm turning fourteen so I guess it's about time." They share a laugh and the blonde goes back to eating. Once he's finished he pays his tab and says to the old man, "I'll make sure to stop by more often." The middle-aged man smiles and nods as the blonde leaves the ramen stand. In the streets Naruto doesn't know what to do with himself, "Well I don't have any books to read, maybe I should head to the book store?"

_Inside the Bookstore_

The Chuunin looks over some titles in the bookstore and sees that he has most of them. Thumbing through a little further he sees one he doesn't recognize, "Huh, this looks interesting." Pulling out a book titled _Team Seven: The Tale of a Hokage and his Three Sannin _by: Jiraiya of the Sannin he looks it over before decided to purchase it.

_Later that Day in the Park_

Naruto is sitting reading the newly purchased book of his leaned against a large tree in its shade. A large spiky-haired shadow comes from behind and he sighs, "I like your book about your team. It's a nice change from the usual porn with a plot I see your name on."

Jiraiya laughs and sighs, "Well I felt like someone would enjoy it out there." He looks at the blonde and is painfully reminded of his former student, "Do you mind if I sit here?"

The Chuunin says, "Go ahead, I'm not stopping you." The Toad Sage leans up against the trunk before lighting a pipe, "I'm guessing you want to talk to me about training me again?"

The Sannin shakes his head before taking a puff of his tobacco; "No I wanted to ask you about your life actually. I want to know what you've been doing all the time I failed to be there for you."

Naruto marks his spot and puts his book away, "Well I guess I'll start with the beginning…" The blonde goes on for a while explaining his life story and Jiraiya listens intently. Hours pass by and they don't even notice, but eventually Naruto says, "And now I'm here telling my life story to a Sannin."

They share a laugh at that thought, "Well it's getting late, and I've got to get going. If you ever need anything just let me know." Handing the blonde a scroll the Sannin says, "If you want to communicate with me write a message on there and channel a little chakra into it. I'll write back to you as soon as I can." Getting up slowly Jiraiya sighs, "And if you ever need me to help you with your training just let me know. I won't hesitate to come help if I can." Naruto nods and the Sannin leaves in a puff of smoke.

Looking up to the night sky Naruto sighs, "Maybe I shouldn't burn this bridge, I think he's trying to help." Shaking his head the teen leaves the area in a swirl of leaves.

_At the Training Ground the Next Day_

Naruto holds off a heavy assault from Iruka very well and eventually the Jounin begins to show signs of fatigue. Capitalizing on this the blonde Chuunin begins picking up the pace little by little. Iruka feels this and tries to back away, but finds he can't get an opening to create a replacement. Naruto lands a mean spinning kick to Iruka's face, which effectively knocks him out. Seeing his unconscious mentor Naruto cautiously approaches to find Iruka is actually knocked out. The Chuunin brings his teacher over to a tree and props him up there until the Jounin awakens, "What happened?"

The blonde laughs, "I landed a mean spinning kick and you got knocked out. It looks like you might need to step up your training a bit."

The Jounin scowls, but laughs it off realizing this day has been coming for a while, "Naruto I think it's time for you to move on to a new teacher."

Tilting his head in confusion the teen says, "What do you mean?"

Iruka gets up slowly and Naruto helps him, "I'm going to be honest, I've taught you everything I can. At this point you've surpassed me, and I think it's time for you to get someone who can keep developing you as a ninja." Seeing the disappointment in Naruto's azure eyes he pats his student on the shoulder, "Don't worry we'll still be a team, but I'll be less of a teacher and more of a peer." A warm breeze blows, "I think maybe you should get in contact with Jiraiya. He's going to be able to show you a lot more than I ever could."

Naruto nods, "Alright I will, but I don't expect you to stop training either! Just cause I'm going up doesn't mean you can slack."

The brown-haired Jounin chuckles, "Don't worry that never even crossed my mind Naruto." The two shake hands not as student and teacher, but as ninja to ninja…

**End Chapter 12**


	13. Chapter 13

**Start Chapter 13**

_Naruto has surpassed me. It's hard to believe that kid who I found painting the Hokage Mountain turned out to be such a fast learner. He's fourteen and almost better than I was back in my ANBU days. I think the part I have in telling his story is over, it's time for him to write his own book._

_At Naruto's Apartment_

Naruto hears a knock at his door and goes to answer it, "Jiraiya I'm surprised you got here so quick."

The Sannin smiles before saying, "Well I heard I have a new student, so I figured I'd make a good impression." Looking over the blonde's apartment the Toad Sage nods and says, "You're going to have to say goodbye to this place for a few years."

Shocked by that the blonde Chuunin says, "So we're going on a training trip now?" Jiraiya nods and Naruto sighs, "What will I be learning exactly?"

Jiraiya says, "I'm going to teach you everything I know, and you're going to learn about the world at the same time. One day I want you to take over the title as Toad Sage."

Naruto shakes his head, "No, I don't want to follow your path." The Sannin's face crinkles, "I'm not done." Jiraiya relaxes a little and motions for the blonde to continue his story, "I will learn everything you want me to, but that doesn't mean I will follow in your footsteps. I don't want to be the next Fourth Hokage or Jiraiya of the Sannin. I want to be Naruto Uzumaki."

The Sannin is amazed at the maturity of the boy and feels a great deal of respect well for the blonde, "Well I have to say I'm impressed. I'm glad you want to be known as an original, not a copy. However, that doesn't mean you won't use what I teach you. I'll tell you this, there's a lot you don't know yet about me or the Fourth."

Chuckling dryly the blonde says, "I figured that much, so when do we start?"

Jiraiya gets up, "Tomorrow we leave at 500 hours sharp at the main gate. Pack what you need and say your goodbyes for now." In a puff of smoke the Sannin leaves Naruto to his thoughts.

_The Next Day at the Main Gate_

Naruto has both of his sealing scrolls at his belt and a full ninja pack ready to go for a trip, "So shall we go?" Jiraiya nods and the two leave the village for the next two years…

**Author's Note: I realize this chapter is very short, but I'm going to do a time skip as of now. Naruto is going to come back to the village when he's sixteen and a lot will change in that time. Stay tuned…**

**End Chapter 13 and Journey to Jounin Arc**


	14. Chapter 14

**Start Chapter 14 and From Behind the Fox Mask to the Next Generation Arc**

_It's been a long two years and I'm ready to come back home. I learned so much from Jiraiya and our travels. Although he taught me a lot of stuff he wanted to pass onto me I don't exactly plan on using a lot of it unless it's needed. I mean in all honesty the Rasengan and its variations are cool. Summoning toads is going to be very useful in the future for communication and possibly in battle. I'm not one for flashy techniques, so we'll see how all of this actually will be applied in combat. Well we're almost home so I guess I'll go._

_Outside of the Leaf Village_

Naruto and Jiraiya walk slowly towards the gates of the village, "It's been a while since I've been here." Jiraiya motions for Naruto to go ahead home. Walking at a good pace the blonde Chuunin sees not much has changed about the village, "Except for Tsunade's head being added to Hokage Mountain." He smiles at the addition and walks to his apartment.

_Inside of Naruto's Apartment After a Cleaning_

The blonde Chuunin smiles at his work before turning to his empty kitchen. He begins to scrounge around for food and eventually finds some cup ramen, "I guess this'll have to do." Shrugging his shoulders Naruto starts preparing the instant meal. Once it's done he sits down and begins to eat it. Recalling how he used to live on this stuff back in the day he smiles nostalgically. A knock at his door peels him from his musings and he looks out the window to see, "Iruka!" Rushing over to the door he opens it to reveal his mentor, "I missed you!" Embracing the Jounin in a manly hug the two separate, "Come on in."

Iruka nods before entering and taking a seat, "I've come to tell you that you've been promoted to Jounin." Naruto looks shocked and smiles in pride as Iruka hands him a set of black Jounin slacks and shirt, "That means we're on equal ranking now, but enough of that, how was your training trip?" Still in shock the blonde Jounin shakes it out before going into detail about what he learned.

After a while Naruto finishes his story and asks, "So what have you been up to?"

The brown-haired Jounin shrugs his shoulders, "I've been running missions mostly, training hard, the usual." Pausing and looking out the window Iruka sighs, "Well it was nice seeing you again. I expect you to be at the Hokage's office ready for missions tomorrow at noon." Naruto nods and Iruka takes his leave. Stopping at the door the brown-haired man smiles, "Naruto I'm proud of how far you've come in these past few years, but I want you to remember where you came from. Don't lose sight of what's important to you." Closing the door behind him the Jounin leaves for the night.

Naruto processes that before saying, "I guess grocery shopping will have to wait until after the mission." Yawning and looking at the clock the blonde decides it's time for bed.

_At the Hokage's Office the Next Day_

The two Jounin stand side-by-side waiting for their mission orders, "You two will be conducting a search and destroy mission along with retrieval of important documents in Water Country. A couple of Chuunin level Mist Ninja have gone rouge and taken some important documents. The Hidden Mist Village wants some assistance finding them and these documents." Handing Iruka the scroll Tsunade waits and the two accept the mission given to them, "Alright then make your preparations and get a move on." As they exit the room the Hokage says, "By the way Naruto those Jounin robes look good on you." The blonde thanks her and the two leave the office.

_Somewhere in Water Country Near the Hidden Mist Village_

Naruto and Iruka traverse through a small path off the road that has been recently cleared. Keeping their eyes peeled for traps they tread lightly as the go through unknown territory. Eyeing something off the blonde Jounin motions for Iruka to hold his position and he squats down noting a tripwire. He inspects even closer to notice that there is not only a second tripwire, but also a third that's practically invisible, "Tricky, the good news is I saw it." Stepping over the trap they keep an eye out for anything else that's out of place. A little while later they see smoke coming from out in a heavy mist, "I think we've been detected." Naruto says quietly and Iruka nods as they draw their weapons. Charging wind chakra into his knuckle busters Naruto gets ready. Iruka draws a baton and charges water chakra into it forming it into a katana, "I'm going to summon some toads to help us track them." Biting his thumb and making hand seals the blonde Jounin summons some smaller toads to go hunting.

Hearing rustling Iruka says, "Here they come." Not soon after water flies at them and both of the Leaf Jounin quickly counter with water jutsu of their own. Naruto makes more hand seals for a wind technique that sends a strong wind through the area effectively clearing the mist. Four Chuunin are revealed and the duo stands back-to-back quickly coming up with a plan.

Naruto makes a cross-handed seal before saying, " Ninja-Art: Shadow Clone Jutsu." Twenty Naruto's surround the area and in groups of five the doppelgangers engage the ninja, "Take out one at a time and then re-group." Without much effort Naruto and Iruka are able to effectively neutralize two of the rouge ninja.

The other two however, manage to beat the clones of the blonde with ease, "Okay time to take them out, you take the one on the left I'll take the one on the right." Iruka says and they go to work. Naruto drops his training weights gently on the ground before rushing at his target with blinding speed. He lands a solid blow to the ninja's heart with his knuckle-buster and the rouge ninja collapses dead. Iruka comes over to Naruto with the head of the other one, "Well that was easy let's get their heads and those documents then head over to the Hidden Mist Village." Getting to work the two ninja clean up the evidence of their relatively easy battle.

_At the Mizukage's Office_

Iruka hands the Hidden Mist's military leader the scroll containing the heads of the missing ninja and the unopened documents they were carrying, "Thank you Iruka Umino and Naruto Uzumaki I will make sure to send the Hokage my thanks and here is the compensation for their bounties." They bow in respect for the foreign leader before taking the money and heading home.

_In the Hokage's Office a Couple Months Later on Naruto's Birthday_

Naruto and Iruka report back after another successful mission in Earth Country involving a rescue mission, "Well good job you two. Now Naruto I see that you've come back from 31 C-rank missions 24 B-rank missions and 17 A-Rank Missions and haven't failed one of them." Naruto nods confused by that statement, "I'm wondering if you would consider becoming a member of the ANBU eventually."

The blonde Jounin shrugs his shoulder, "Well not really, but I wouldn't turn it down if I was offered it."

Tsunade nods, "I see, well it's nice to know that, good job on your mission." She waves them off and they leave the office feeling confused. A shadow comes from the corner of the office, "Pick him up later, but don't kidnap him. I feel like that would create a lot of problems." The dog-masked ANBU nods before leaving in a puff of smoke.

_Later that Night_

Naruto sits reading a book on fire ninjutsu when he feels a presence entering his room, "Who are you?" Drawing his kunai he turns to see a dog-masked ANBU, "ANBU, what do you want with me?"

A muffled voice says, "I'm here to extend you an invitation to the ANBU Black-Ops of the Leaf Village. Should you choose to accept this offer you will be taken away to our headquarters and you won't leave there except for missions." Pausing for second the masked-figure says, "You will not exist in this village for your time in the ANBU unit and will be required to wear a mask anytime you are outside of your bunker. You will not be allowed to use your real name just the codename of assigned to you." He breathes before asking, "Do you accept these responsibilities?"

The blonde nods, "I do."

"Good, we're starting your training now. Get dressed." Throwing Naruto ANBU clothing, armor, a ninja-to and a fox mask he waits for the blonde to suit up. Once the teen is ready he clasps on the mask, "Come follow me." They head out into the night and towards the ANBU facility.

_Underneath the Leaf Village Several Weeks Later_

Naruto struggles to maintain being awake as he goes through silent training. He's sleep deprived, carbohydrate-depleted, and irritable. Dodging a hail of kunai that comes at him the blonde is beginning to feel the fatigue of the past few days set in. He blocks a ninja-to swipe from his opponent and goes back to hiding seamlessly. Feeling a prickle on the back of neck Naruto turns to parry a downward slash from his enemy before kicking the ninja away from him into a tree knocking them out. He hears clapping coming from the upper deck, "Very good Fox you're almost through with the last phase of your training. Take a lunch break." Sighing in relief the blonde heads out of the training zone and into the mess hall to eat. Once in there he grabs some food and collapses onto a lunch bench.

The dog-masked ANBU from the other week comes and pats him on the shoulder and says, "You're progressing very quickly, and you might break the record for fastest training time." Naruto smiles at that as he lifts his mask and begins to eat slowly trying to savor what little nourishment he's getting, "Are you glad you joined the ANBU?"

Chuckling dryly the blonde says, "For the most part, yes. It'll be nice though when I can start eating and sleeping normally again." The two share a laugh, "So I've been wondering why did you re-join the ANBU?"

Lifting his mask the dog-masked ANBU reveals it to be Kakashi Hatake; "I got tired of dealing with Sasuke, Sakura, and that other kid. They never learned to work as a team and eventually it wore on me. Now that they're all Chuunin I don't have an obligation to teach them anymore." Naruto nods and goes back to eating his meal for a bit, "Once you're done eating come to the testing ground, I think it's time you take your final exam." Getting up and putting his mask back on Kakashi leaves the blonde to his thoughts.

_Later that Day_

Naruto crouches in the bushes waiting for his opponent to relax. Once the ninja does he moves in for the kill. Sneaking up he presses his ninja-to to the neck of the enemy and says, "Yield." The ninja does as he's told and clapping rings throughout the upper deck. Naruto feels exhilarated knowing his training is finally done.

"Congratulations Fox, you are now officially a member of the ANBU Black Ops of the Hidden Leaf Village. It's time for your marking and induction ceremony." The blonde ANBU member heads out of the training zone before heading out finally done with his torture.

_A Night After the Marking and Induction Ceremony_

Naruto looks over the village atop of the head of the Fourth Hokage dressed in his ANBU attire and sighs in relief, "I'm one step closer to my goal dad. Are you proud of me?" A warm breeze blows comforting the blonde and he closes his azure eyes for second taking in the moonlight. Opening his eyes behind the mask he says, "I will not fail the village, mark my words." Fazing out of sight the blonde leaves the Hokage Mountain to undertake his first mission as an ANBU…

_In the Dead of Night Somewhere in Wind Country_

Scanning the area behind his fox mask Naruto decides it's time to start planting the explosive tags under the bridge. Waiting for the searchlight to scan the other way he makes his move once it hits the far end. He darts to one of the critical points in the bridge and plants three explosive tags. A mirror flash signals everyone is in place and the team clears the area. As the guard shift changes the unsuspecting Sand ninja and bridge are blown to smithereens as the tags at the supports and mid-section ignite. Naruto and his team move through the brush remaining undetected. Sighing in relief at the successful completion of his first mission Naruto stays on guard as they move through the night.

_In the ANBU Mission Office_

The blonde ANBU and his team report back from their mission, "The target was destroyed, there were several Sand ninja inside as expected and they were killed. We remained undetected throughout, so they will not know we were the perpetrators." The highly decorated ANBU behind the desk nods and burns the mission report.

"Very good Fox, Dog, Cat, and Hawk you may take a break for the next three days until your next mission." The ANBU bow and leave the mission's office before heading towards their bunkers.

Once inside his Naruto takes off his mask and sighs in fatigue. Kakashi asks as he takes off his Dog mask, "You alright Fox?"

The blonde nods his head, "Yeah, just tired from staying up for so long. I'll get used to it eventually." Undressing and heading into the shower room Naruto cleans off the mission grime and gets dressed to eat before bed.

As he exits the room Kakashi says, "Hey, Fox you're doing great right now. Just keep up the good work and you'll make it through." Naruto nods before heading to the mess hall to get some food after his first real test…

**Author's Note: I know the progression between Chuunin, Jounin, and ANBU was short. However, I wanted to move onto the main part of the story at this point. From here on out things get real interesting. Stay tuned.**

**End Chapter 14**


	15. Chapter 15

**Start Chapter 15**

_I made it out of the ANBU alive and now I'm starting a new chapter in my life. I'm going to be teacher! Who would've thought I would be trusted with the Third's Grandson at that? It's funny how things work out in the end, but now's not the time for me to slack! I need to whip these kids into shape, so one day they can stand alone as proud ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village._

_At Training Ground around 5 AM_

Naruto sits on a stump waiting for his Genin to arrive. They come in one-by-one looking dreary and tired as hell, "Well you guys look like you need a wake up call." He makes a hand seal and splashes them with water from the nearby river and they all cry in annoyance, "First rule: Always be ready and aware." They grumble at that, "Second rule: No complaining." Shutting up they wait for the blonde Jounin to continue, "Thank you, now the next one is the most important so listen close." The trio of Genin looks ready to learn, "I will not tolerate traitors. If you even dare leave this village or hurt your teammates. I will personally make sure you don't see the next day, is that understood?"

"Yes sir, Naruto-sensei!" They cry in unison and Naruto smiles lightly at them before pointing to a small cliff.

The Jounin hands them a rope. "Your first lesson will be a physical challenge. I want you all to climb up that cliff while roped to one another. You may not go around the hill either you must climb up it. At no time, unless I say so, can you take off the ropes. Now have at it." The trio heads over to the cliff and they attach to one another before trying to work out a way up the cliff together. Naruto sits back and watches for a little while and he hears a puff of smoke appear next to him.

"You're starting off pretty tough with them aren't you?" Iruka says as the cloud dissipates, "I was expecting you to start with the individual then move onto teamwork, why the deviation?"

Naruto shrugs, "I want them to learn that the team comes before their interests and to work things out together. If they can't work together to solve basic problems then how will they be able to tackle the more advanced ones?" Pausing the Jounin chuckles dryly, "Besides I like watching them fall off the cliff."

Iruka says, "It seems being the ANBU turned you into a bit of an asshole."

Getting up and dusting himself off the blonde says, "Maybe, or maybe it showed me to find something to laugh about in life." The brown-haired man smiles and takes his exit from the area as the team makes it up the cliff finally, "Great job guys! Now come back down the same way!" They groan and Naruto looks at them sternly before they come back down slowly. Body flickering over to them the Jounin says, "Good job, now we're going to do some conditioning, but with a twist." Pulling out a wooden kunai, "I will throw this at you any time I see you slacking. It won't break the skin, but it will hurt pretty bad, so unless you want to have a bunch of bumps I suggest you keep working."

Konohamaru looks at his instructor, "When are we going to learn the cool stuff?"

Naruto shakes his head feeling nostalgic at that, "When you've mastered the basics and can function as team without even thinking. Once you've guys have done that I will show you the cool stuff." They nod, "Now get running!" Scrambling in fear the three Genin break right into a running pace. Naruto stands there with his arms crossed monitoring the group of young ninja as they go about their conditioning, "Udon and Moegi you better pick up the pace!" Hearing their teacher's voice calling their names they push harder. Moegi trips and falls on root Konohamaru keeps running and so does Udon, "Stop!" Naruto phases in front of them, "Your teammate is hurt and you left her behind!" He hits them over the head with his hands, "Go help her!" They hesitate, but quickly move to help the female member of the team, "Now if that happened during a mission and you were being chased by enemy ninja she would be dead. I'm not trying to scare you, but it is what's going to happen. You have to be constantly aware of not only your surroundings, but also your team. Understood?" They all nod and Naruto says quietly, "Now that was a good first day guys, I'm glad you got up the cliff on the first day, but we still have a long way to go before we start running missions. Go home, get a good meal, and rest up. You'll need it for tomorrow." In a swirl of leaves Naruto heads out leaving his team feeling tired and sore.

_That Night in Naruto's Apartment_

The blonde Jounin enjoys a nice meal of chicken and brown rice for dinner. He thinks back on today and sighs, "Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on them. They're not me, so they probably aren't used to being treated like soldiers." Shaking that thought out of his head Naruto says, "No, they're considered adults now so they need to learn to act like it. I'm not being hard I'm being realistic. If they think being a ninja is fun then they have a lot to learn." Looking at his old ninja-to Naruto sees a lesson plan coming together.

_The Next Day at the Training Ground_

Naruto sharpens his ninja-to as his three students come in together, "Guys take a seat I have something to tell you." The trio looks confused, but they sit before their teacher waiting, "You see this blade?" They nod at the same time, "This has killed over fifty people while in my hands."

The three Genin gasp in horror, "What the hell are you telling us this for?" Konohamaru says angrily standing up.

Shaking his head the Jounin says sharply, "Because I was ordered to." Konohamaru looks confused and slowly sits down, "As a ninja you will have to kill people and people will want to kill you. However, you have to take a step back and see why they need to be killed." Sighing and sheathing the blade in its scabbard the blonde Jounin continues, "If you kill just to kill then you're no better than an animal, but if you kill someone who has murdered ten children then you can justify taking a life." Looking over his scared team, "You will be ordered to do things you don't morally agree with, but that is the harsh reality of being a ninja. Once this training session is over I want you to go home and think if you really want to be a ninja. Don't ask your family, ask yourself, take a long look in the mirror and decide if this is really for you." Sighing Naruto changes the subject, "Now we're going to work on a combat situation. You guys need to hold me off for an hour until back up arrives. Use any means necessary to keep me at bay, when I say go start running. I'll give you a twenty minute head start." The group of Genin looks one another over before bracing themselves, "Go!"

Taking off in a sprint the group of young ninja begin to quickly formulate a plan together, "I'm going to dig some deep holes real quick with an earth jutsu I know. Udon start laying some of those ninja-wire traps you're good at. Moegi set up a quick log snare we'll do them at different points and try to lure him towards them. Meet back here in no more than fifteen minutes." Konohamaru and the group go to work at their tasks and quickly finish their traps, "Alright guys lets get ready to run. Open your senses and when you detect something say 'flash' and we'll run to the first trap."

Naruto smiles from behind a bush nearby at his student's resourcefulness and teamwork. But almost a year or so in the ANBU plus all of his other experience has taught him better than to fall for simple traps. However, that doesn't mean he can let his guard down. Letting them know he's there by rustling a bush he hears Moegi yell, "Flash!" The Genin scatter and he begins to give chase to the group.

As they make their way through the woods Naruto avoids their traps nimbly, but decides to fall for the hole one at the end, "Well good job guys! You got me." In a swirl of leaves he appears behind them, "However, you should have kept running. A hole will only slow a good ninja down for a few seconds. Great job otherwise!" The trio smiles at their teacher's compliments, "Now lets do run through some exercises that will help you in more than a few ways." Looking them over before continuing, "You're going to learn to climb trees, without using your hands." Walking towards a tree the blonde Jounin begins to scale up the trunk and eventually makes his way to the very top, "Now I'm sure you're wondering how I did that right?" The three Genin nod, "Alright you need to channel just enough chakra into your feet and use it to bond with the tree bark. The easiest way is to take a step onto the tree and gradually adjust the amount of chakra flowing into your feet." His students each walk up to separate trees before trying it out for themselves. Naruto decides to perch up in a tree branch to get a better view so he can monitor their progress. The blonde Jounin watches them closely to see if they need any help noticing Konohamaru looking frustrated he heads over to the boy to help him out with his issue.

"Damn it!" The brown-haired boy says to himself, "This is so stupid!" Kicking the tree the Sarutobi huffs in anger.

"What's the matter Konohamaru?" Naruto asks surprising the young Genin.

"Uh, well I can't figure out how to bond my chakra to the tree. I'm getting the whole channeling it to my feet, but having it stick onto the tree isn't working." The brown-haired Genin looks frustrated and Naruto smiles.

Realizing the problem the blonde says, "Try imagining your chakra going into the tree and sticking to it and then see how that works for you." Konohamaru tries that method and has a lot more success sticking to the bark, "Great job kid! Now just keep practicing for a while." Looking over at his other two students the blonde sees them starting to make their way up their trees. Heading back to his perch Naruto pulls out a book on teaching and starts to read. Once he sees that his Genin are exhausted he decides to call it a day, "Alright guys it's time to head back! Go ahead home now!" His students sigh in relief before leaving the training ground and heading to their homes, "Better get some training in myself." Putting away his book and jumping down Naruto starts some training.

_Later that Night_

Naruto sits down on a log exhausted from a tough training session. Stripping off his sweat soaked shirt and jumping into the pond under the waterfall he feels a shock to his system as the freezing water engulfs him. Jumping up to the surface he gasps for air, "God that feels amazing!" Making his way over to where he can stand the blonde feels a presence nearby and draws a kunai from his pants, "Who's that?"

"I see your senses haven't dimmed a bit." Recognizing the voice as Jiraiya's Naruto relaxes, "You've even become a teacher from what I hear."

Getting out of the water Naruto dries off, "Yeah, I thought I'd help whip some kids into shape. What brings you here?"

The Sannin perches upon a log before pulling out a tobacco pipe and lighting it, "Well Tsunade is getting older and she's looking for a replacement within the next few years. I was going to recommend you as a potential candidate."

Naruto nods silently before thinking, "Well I can say right now I'd like to do a couple of things first. One of which is get this team to Chuunin, the other is possibly start thinking about starting a family. Of course I'd have to find a girlfriend first, but that may be difficult how I tend to piss off women." They share a laugh at that remembering his escapades during their training trip, "Other than that there's not much left on my to-do list before becoming Hokage."

Jiraiya nods, "Well you have three to five years before you're going to be needed, so you better starting working on those things." Taking a drag from his pipe the Sannin smiles looking at the moon, "I guess being Hokage runs in the family."

Naruto nods knowing exactly what he's talking about, "Well I'll say this my kid isn't going to be Hokage unless they're right for the job. This is a military village, not a monarchy."

Finishing up his pipe the Sannin says, "Well do those things within the next five years or you'll be Hokage without a family and someone else will teach these kids you have." Naruto sighs as the Toad Sage leaves him to his thoughts.

"Hokage huh? I guess I better get started on the rest of my life." Gathering his things the blonde gets going home.

_At Naruto's Apartment the Next Morning_

Sitting at his desk Naruto remembers some of the girls he met throughout his training trip with Jiraiya. One of them pops out in particular, the one he had the best time with, even though there wasn't any action, "I wonder how she's doing?" Thinking back to that girl from the mist village he smiles remembering the great time he had with her, "Of course unless we quit being a ninja we'd never work out." Sighing to himself the blonde wonders if he could make a trip to the Mist Village. He also wonders if she'd even remember who he is, "It's a long shot, but its worth it." Shrugging his shoulders Naruto decides to write a letter to her first to see if she's even worth pursuing. Grabbing a piece of paper and a pen he begins to write a letter before sealing it and calling upon a toad to take it to her, "Make sure it gets to this girl." Showing it a picture and giving it some candy the amphibian makes its way with the message.

_A Week Later at Naruto's Apartment_

Naruto sits on his couch after a hard training session and a puff of smoke appears on the table before him. A small toad carrying a scroll comes out of it and the blonde Jounin grabs the message before giving it some candy. Opening the scroll he reads:

_Dear Naruto,_

_I'm surprised and glad to hear from you after so long. Since we last met I've made it to Jounin and I have a Genin team, but haven't met a guy like you. I'm pretty busy with them, but I can make time to see you. If you want we can meet in the middle at the border of Fire and Water Country. I'll be waiting there in one week's time._

_With Love, Misutogāru_

_At the Hokage's Office an Hour Later_

Naruto stands before Tsunade and asks, "I want permission to leave the village for a couple of weeks. I'll also need someone to cover my team for me."

The female Hokage raises an eyebrow, "What for?"

Looking at the ground the blonde sighs, "I want to see if I can reconnect with a girl I met in the Hidden Mist Village a few years back."

Tsunade smiles softly at the boy, "Alright I'll get Ebisu to cover your team, but once you're done come right back. Understood?" Naruto nods excitedly before going to leave, "Hey Naruto, treat her right. Jiraiya told me about this one and she seems like a good girl." In a swirl of leaves the blonde exits to find his old flame.

_A Week Later at the Fire Border_

Naruto paces while waiting at the border of Fire and Water country. He looks up from his musings to see the red-head from his past coming up to him and he smiles. Once they stand face to face she winds up her hand and smacks him hard, "That's for never writing!" He rubs his cheek and she softly kisses the other one, "That's for finally answering my prayers." Naruto smiles lightly at her and they begin to talk for a little while as if they had never been apart.

He feels like something is just right as they talk to each other and walk towards a nearby creek in the woods, "Remember this place?" The blonde Jounin asks and waits a few seconds.

She rolls her eyes before smiling and saying, "Yeah this is that place where you tried to get me to go skinny dipping." Watching Naruto undress into just his boxers she says, "Oh no, I'm not." Pulling her into the water with him the blonde feels the cool water rush around them and they resurface, "You know, most people don't just drag people into the water when they're fully clothed." Taking off her top and pants she smiles devilishly, "And this is as close you're going to get to what you want."

Naruto chuckles dryly, "I didn't expect you to bang me on the first date back." They share a laugh and swim together in the cool creek not realizing the passing of time. However, Naruto and Misutogāru don't seem to care as they re-fall in love…

**Author's Note: The next chapter will be the last one. I know the last parts were kind of rushed, but honestly I feel like I've kind of run out of ideas for this story. Maybe I'll revisit it and try to come up with a better version, but for now this is what I got.**

**End Chapter 15**


	16. Epilogue

**Start Epilogue**

_It's been a few years since Misutogāru and I have settled down. I've since become Hokage and we're expecting our first born child. I'm hoping it's a boy, but I wouldn't mind a girl. Some times I wonder what would have happened if I had never met Iruka when I did. However, I guess everything happens for a reason. Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi are all Jounin now. Everyone I grew up with kind of went they're separate ways and are now working under me. The nine-tail's and I have made a deal that when I die so does it. It's not too happy, but it would rather be free in death than be a prisoner for life._

_Even though it's been a long hard journey it has been a happy one. Usually a ninja's journey is sad and full of tragedy, but mine was different. It was definitely a different journey._


End file.
